New home sales in the U.S. rebound, rise 3.7% in January
New home sales rebounded in January after posting a steep decline in December, an indication that the new-construction market remains on the path to recovery despite bumps along the way.
Purchases of newly built, single-family houses, which account for a small share of overall U.S. home sales, increased 3.7% from December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 555,000 last month, the Commerce Department said Friday.
The data was clouded, however, by a margin of error of 18.5 percentage points, much larger than the reported increase. A 15.8% increase in Northeast sales led the pack last month, but that figure had a margin of error of 79.3 percentage points.
The 12-month rolling total of new homes sold, which helps smooth out some of the monthly volatility, is up 12% year-over-year, according to Ralph McLaughlin, chief economist at Trulia.
“We’re seeing new-home sales climb pretty solidly month after month,” he said. New-home sales are now at about 85% of their 50-year norm, according to Mr. McLaughlin, although that doesn’t account for population growth.
In all, an estimated 561,000 new homes were sold in 2016, up 12% from a year earlier and the fifth straight year of sales growth. The annual figure indicates broad improvement in the market, even if sales of new homes remain well below where they were during the housing boom of the 2000s, when they topped 1 million a year for four years.
