New Single-Family Home Sales Set Record in March

“Home sales were robust as builders entered their peak selling season,” said NAHB President Bobby Rayburn, and “builders are working hard to keep up with the demand.”

Although mortgage rates have been rising since March, NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders said that he still expected the housing market to remain strong "because the fundamentals, household incomes, employment and household formations are strong.”

New home sales in March increased 19.3% in the South, 5.1% in the West and 5% in the Midwest. They dropped 24.3% in the Northeast, where sales activity during the first quarter was nevertheless 28.7% higher than during the same quarter of 2003, the strongest showing of any region.

The 372,000 inventory of new homes for sale in March represented a low 3.7-month supply at the current sales pace.

“The supply-demand balance in the new-home market is very, very healthy,” Seiders said. “Builders are not overextending production. Houses that have been actually completed account for only about one-quarter of the inventory, with units under construction or that have not yet been started making up the balance.”