Sales of new, single-family homes were essentially unchanged in March, while the supply of unsold new homes shrank by 5 percent, according to figures released today by the Commerce Department.
The monthly survey of new residential sales reported a seasonally adjusted rate of 356,000 units sold, down from 358,000 units the month before. The 0.8 percent decline is essentially meaningless due to the survey's large sampling error; the Commerce Department says that a trend in home sales needs to be established for about five months before it can be considered meaningful.
On the other hand, the reported drop in the supply of unsold homes, to 311,000 from 328,000 in February, is statistically significant and suggests that the supply of excess homes continues to tighten. The monthly decline is the largest percentage drop in 45 years, the Commerce Department said.
The March figure represents a 10.7 month supply of unsold homes, down from 12.5 months in January and 11.2 months in February.
The median sales price of new homes continued to drop, to $201,400, down from $208,700 the month before. The figure represents a $45,000 decline from the 12-month high of $246,400 in April 2008; information on the margin of error for this portion of the survey was not available.
The March sales totals were higher than analysts expected; a Reuters survey had predicted seasonally adjusted sales of only 340,000 units. Sales remain poor, however; the reported March estimate of 356,000 units remains 30 percent below the March 2008 sales rate of 513,000 units.
