-Oxford Economics
New US single-family home sales unexpectedly fell in March, but the decline was mainly concentrated in the West region, implying that the housing market continued to strengthen. According to the Commerce Department, sales of newly built homes in the US unexpectedly dropped 1.5% to 511,000 on an annual pace, reaching a three-month low despite better supplies as well as lower prices. Meanwhile, economists had expected a rise of 1.6% to an annualised pace of 520,000 homes. Despite a considerable slide in new construction in March, the positive tendency still could be observed, since the data is 14% higher compared to the preceding year, signalling a continued strength of the US economy. March's sales pace put the market on track to overshoot 2015's total 501,000 new homes, the highest annual level since 2007. The report also showed inventory expanded to its highest level since September. Based on the current sales pace, it would take 5.8 months to exhaust the supply of newly built homes, compared with 5.6 months in the previous month. The total number of new homes for sale at the end of the month was 246,000, the highest figure since September 2009.
Meanwhile, the median price of a newly built home plunged to $288,000 from $297,400 in February. That was down 1.8% from a year earlier.
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