New home sales for April 2020
In a surprise, the new home sales for April comes in at 623K vs 480K estimate. That is a gain for the month. The prior month was revised slightly lower to 619K from 627K last month.
- New home sales month-to-month 0.6% vs. -23.4% estimate. The prior month was revised to -13.7% from -15.4%
- Month supply 6.3 month vs. 6.4 months last month. The low in 2020 reached 5.0 month. Although higher it is still not in crisis area.
- Homes for sale total 325,000 down from 331,000 last month. The level equals the January level
- Northeast, +8.7%
- Midwest, +2.4%
- South, +2.4%
- West -6.3%
- Median price $309,900, -8.6% from April's $339,000. So builders may have discounted inventory in the uncertain times
- the mean price also fell to $364,500 from $377,400. That is a -5.4% decline year on year. The month-to-month change is -3.4%
- The annualized sales pace is also down sharply over the prior 2 months from a high of 777K but still is at a relatively high level historically.
Needless to say the number is a big surprise given expectations. However it did not come without big discounts from the builders to attract the buyers. If the economy is to rebound, we should see a run back higher in prices next month.
