Market Update~ New Build Home Stats And Predictiona
The real estate industry dealt with some difficult news in 2024, but sales of new build homes brought some good news as they ended the year strong.
New Builds increased 3.6% from November and rose to 6.7% year-over-year. December's new home sales helped offset the slowdown in existing home sales last year — although it wasn’t quite enough to make a meaningful difference in overall transactions.
For the whole of 2024, approximately 683,000 new homes were sold. That's a 2.5% increase compared to 2023, but a pretty small number relative to exisiting home sales which came in at just over 4 million in 2024 — which is slightly short of 2023 sales, and the lowest level since 1995.
Housing starts were up in December and that suggests more completions in the coming months.
TheNational Association Of Home Builders is forecasting "a slight gain for sales in 2025." Robert Dietz, NAHB Chief Economist
"Builders are cautiously optimistic about the building market given a post-election policy reset that seeks to eliminate unnecessary regulations," added Carl Harris, NAHB Chairman.
"The available supply of existing homes for sale is increasing as more current homeowners are deciding to sell," So there is plenty of pent-up demand
The median price of new homes sold was $420,100 in 2024, down from $428,600 in 2023,
New home sales were strongest in the Midwest, up 19% in 2024 compared to 2023. The West was slightly above the national average at 2.6%, while the Northeast increased 1.7%. The South had a slight decline, falling 0.2% year-over-year.
For new homes, supply was at 8.5 months at the end of December, up slightly from a year before. Combined with the existing home inventory of 3.1 months, that puts overall inventory at 4 months, which is said to be lowest since April 2024.
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Contributor Dave Gallagher
