REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-New-Home Sales Nearly Flat in May

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Daily Real Estate News | June 26, 2009 | New-Home Sales Nearly Flat in May
Sales of new homes were virtually flat in May, compared to April, but down about one-third from the number of sales during the same period a year ago, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

Home sales slid 0.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 342,000. The number of new homes for sale declined 2.3 percent to 292,000, a 10.2-month supply.

The decline in new-home sales was entirely focused on the South, where sales fell 8.5 percent for the month. Meanwhile, sales of new homes gained 1.3 percent in the West and posted double-digit gains of 28.6 percent and 18.6 percent in the Northeast and Midwest, respectively.

“Today’s report provides further evidence that the recovery is going to be a slow one as the housing market continues to bump along, trying to find a bottom,” the National Association of Home Builder’s Chief Economist David Crowe says. “The good news is that, even as the sales pace leveled in May, inventories of unsold new homes continued to shrink for a 25th consecutive month – a trend that is helping bring supply and demand into better alignment and thereby setting the stage for an eventual market recovery.”

Source: The National Association of Home Builders (06/24/2009)

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