Real Estate

New home sales remain mostly flat in January
By Kerri Ann Panchuk
 • February 24, 2012 • 10:07am

New single-family home sales sold at an annual rate of 321,000 units in January, a slight 0.9% drop from December, a government report said Friday.

Comparatively in November, the U.S. Census Bureau recorded 324,000 new home sales.

Still, the January rate is up 3.5% from a year earlier when only 310,000 units sold.

The same week, the National Association of Realtors published a report saying existing home sales rose 4.3% in January, making it the third jump in the past four months.

In December, analysts with Econoday said new home sales became "disappointingly soft", falling short of expectations after experiencing sales gains in September, October and November.

The same week, the National Association of Realtors published a report saying existing home sales rose 4.3% in January, making it the third jump in the past four months.

In January, existing home sales hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million units, compared to a pace of 4.38 million units in December and 4.54 million units in the year-ago period.

kpanchuk@housingwire.com

More In Real Estate

Analyst says take advantage of dismal housing reports

In a recent homebuilding note, Jay McCanless, an analyst for Sterne Agee, encourages investors to take advantage of the weakness created by national housing reports. The analyst recommends buying Meritage Homes, D.R. Horton and The Ryland Group.

Freddie Mac: Housing is the juice of the recovery

"Household formations are expected to gradually rise to a 1.2-to-1.4 million annual pace in coming years, supporting a sustained level of construction," said Freddie Mac Vice President Frank Nothaft.

View All