Home sales data, inventory check

New home sales in May, measuring contract signings of freshly made construction and thus more timely than existing home sales that calculate the number of closings, totaled 619k. That was 24k less than expected but April was revised up by 64k to 698k which was the most since July 2023. I’m not sure why but there was a drop in new home sales in the Northeast to the least amount since June 2022. These figures include homes that have been finished, still under construction or not yet started.

Months supply hit 9.3 from 8.1 in April as the number of homes for sale are at the highest level since January 2008. Remember what Toll Brothers said on their last call that they have increased the amount of spec homes being built. A cooling of home prices, if the result of this new home supply, would be welcomed by the transaction market for sure but those long homebuilding stocks should take note. The median home price was little changed y/o/y, down .9% but because of mix, this is very volatile month to month.