Definition of new home sales

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New Home Sales is an economic indicator which records sales of newly constructed residences in the United States of America.

The United States Census Bureau publishes New Home Sales statistics monthly on their website.

Statistics are reported as unadjusted monthly rates and seasonally adjusted annual rates.

Economic significance

Because New Home Sales trigger consumption, they have significant market impact upon release.

New Home Sales also serve as a good indicator of economic turning points due to its consumer income sensitivity.

Generally, when economic conditions slow down, New Home Sales serves as an early indicator of such a depression.

Limitations

Several cautions apply when interpreting New Home Sales statistics:

Statistics exclude any new houses that were not built for immediate sale. For example, in the situation where a purchaser commissions a builder to build a house on a lot that the purchaser already owns, this housing unit would not be included in the statistics.

Other construction statistics, such as Permits, Starts and Completions, do include virtually all new residential construction.

Sales are reported as of the month that a customer signs a sales contract or the builder accepts a deposit. The house can be in any stage of construction.

Sales are not reduced to account for sales contracts which are subsequently cancelled by the customer or the builder. However, in those situations where a cancellation occurs, the house is not re-counted upon a subsequent sale to another customer.

Filed Under: New Home Sales

New Home Sales: January 1995

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JANUARY 1995 NEW HOUSING SALES AT ANNUAL RATE OF 679,000

Sales of new one-family houses in January 1995 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 679,000, according to estimates reported today by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of the Census.  This is 4 (+/-13) percent above the revised December 1994 rate of 654,000 and 6 (+/-14) percent above the January 1994 rate of 640,000.

The median sales price of new houses sold in January was $125,100; the mean sales price was $142,700.  At the end of January, the seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale was 344,000.  This represents a supply of 6.4 months at the current sales rate.

Data for February 1995 will be released on March 29, 1995 at 10:00 A.M. EST.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

These statistics are estimated from sample surveys.

They are subject to sampling variability and errors of response and non-reporting. Estimated average relative standard errors of the data are shown in the tables. Whenever a statement such as “an increase of 3 (+/-4) percent” appears in the text, this indicates the range (from -1 percent to +7 percent) in which the actual percent change is likely to have occurred.

All ranges given for percent changes are 90-percent confidence intervals.

If the range contains zero, it is unclear whether there was an increase or decrease; that is, the change is not statistically significant.

For any comparison cited without a confidence interval, the change is statistically significant. The January issue of CURRENT CONSTRUCTION REPORTS (C25) includes explanations of confidence intervals and sampling variability. Changes in seasonally adjusted statistics often show irregular movement. It takes 4 months to establish a trend.

On the average, preliminary monthly sales estimates are revised +/- 5 percent.  Changes in sales price data reflect changes in the distribution of houses by region, size, etc., as well as changes in the prices of houses with identical characteristics.

NEW ONE-FAMILY HOUSES SOLD:  JANUARY 1995

NOTE: Seasonally adjusted have been revised for each month back to January 1992. The revised data are included in this file.

nhs seasonally adjusted 01.95

Number of houses in thousands. (p) Preliminary.   (r) Revised.

AVG. RSE(%): Annual – Avg. Relative Standard Error for the last two years. YTD – Avg. Relative Standard Error for the current period

and the same period last year. Monthly – Avg. Relative Standard Error for the latest six month period(January-June or July-December).

Source:  Construction Reports, Series C25, New One-Family Houses Sold. C25 Reports are available from the U.S. Government Printing Office. Construction Starts Branch, telephone (301) 457-4662.

NEW ONE-FAMILY HOUSES FOR SALE AT END OF PERIOD AND MONTHS SUPPLY AT CURRENT SALES RATE:  JANUARY 1995

NOTE: Seasonally adjusted have been revised for each month back to January 1992.

The revised data are included in this file.

Filed Under: New Home Sales Tagged With: