THE ONE THING:
New home sales climbed by nearly 6%
HUD and the US Census Bureau published figures for new home sales in the month of November 2022. The government reported a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 640,000, which represents an increase of 5.8% from October. These numbers represent an usually stronger than expected numbers since the market and many analysts expected that there would be a contraction of new home sales by 4.7% in November. The report also placed the median sales price of new homes to be $471,000, with the average sales price hitting $543,600.
As many of the professionals in the industry have indicated, the real estate market has been in somewhat of a slump, or even at the entry stage of a recession. But these numbers prove that the experts aren’t always correct. They attribute the uptick to be the effect of the slip in mortgage rates and home builders being more willing to be very aggressive in their incentives to close deals. Still the median price of a new home rose in November, which is typically a moribund month, with many buyers devoting much of their attention to holiday shopping and family get-togethers.
What some economists believe is that builders are more willing to work through their existing inventory by offering good deals and even cuts in prices, to avoid being stuck with any high-priced inventory.
Still the number of new homes for sale on the market are greater than the typical supply that most in the industry are used to: with 461,000 new homes available for sale, this represents an 8.6-month supply.
January will prove to be a very interesting month, stay tuned.
If you have any questions about this information or title insurance, please contact Ralph Aponte: 732.914.1400.
Counsellors Title Agency, www.counsellorstitle.net, founded in 1996, is one of New Jersey’s most respected title agencies, serving all 21 New Jersey counties with title insurance, clearing title, escrow, tidelands searches, and closing and settlement services for commercial or industrial properties, waterfront properties and marinas, condominiums, townhouses or residential single-family homes. Counsellors Title also features its own Attorney Settlement Assistance Program™ [ASAP], which is an individual resource customized to fit the needs specifically of real estate attorneys, including, Documentation, Preparation, Disbursement of Funds, Attendance at Closing, HUD Preparation or Post-Closing Matters.
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