March 31st, 2009 10:32 PM

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

 

New home sales rebounded unexpectedly last month, although numbers remain near a record lows.

The U.S. Commerce Department said February sales rose 4.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 337,000, and that figure was up from an upwardly revised January figure of 322,000. Even after the revision of January’s sales numbers, the month remained the worst on records dating back to 1963.

Despite the jump, February’s sales were still down by more than 40 percent from the same month a year earlier.

The median sales price fell to $209,000, a record 18 percent drop from the same month last year. The median price is the midpoint, where half sell for more and half for less.

At the current sales pace, the government said it would take a year to exhaust the supply of new homes on the market. The glut of unsold homes and competition from deeply discounted foreclosed properties puts even more downward pressure on prices and on builders’ profits. At the same time, lower prices create buying opportunities for more potential buyers.

In February, sales in the South rose 9.7 percent from a month earlier, and 6.6 percent in the West. They dropped 9.1 percent in the Midwest and 3.3 percent in the Northeast.

The National Association of Realtors said Monday that February sales of existing homes grew 5.1 percent to an annual rate of 4.72 million, up from 4.49 million units in Januar

Courtesey of the Phoenix Business Journal

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