New Home Sales-2nd worst on record and down 29% year-over-year

2nd worst new home sales figure on record, 8.6 month supply of new homes coupled with a 12 month supply of existing home inventory, median price of new homes not seen since December 2003 and the U.S. Equity Market Launches nearly 2%. The Great Disconnect continues.

NEW RESIDENTIAL SALES IN AUGUST 2010

Census Bureau and Dept. of Housing and Urban Development

Sales of new single-family houses in August 2010 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 288,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

This is unchanged from the revised July rate of 288,000 and is 28.9 percent below the August 2009 estimate of 405,000.

The median sales price of new houses sold in August 2010 was $204,700; the average sales price was $248,800. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of August was 206,000. This represents a supply of 8.6 months at the current sales rate. Full Report

Alan Zibel, AP Real Estate Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sales of new homes had their second-worst month on record in August, signaling that the housing market will remain a drag on the economy.

Last month's new home sales were unchanged from a month earlier at a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 288,000, the Commerce Department said Friday. Sales were down by 29 percent from the same month a year earlier.

Normally the building industry powers economic recoveries. Each new home built creates, on average, the equivalent of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000 in taxes, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

But housing has been at the center of this downturn and it shows no signs of recovering quickly.

The only time new home sales were slower was in May, when the sales pace was 282,000. That's the worst pace on records dating back to 1963. July's results had been the worst on record, but were adjusted upward.

High unemployment, tight credit and uncertainty about home prices have kept people from buying homes. Government tax credits boosted the market earlier in the year, but those expired in April.

The median sales price in August was $204,700. That was down 1.2 percent from a year earlier and the lowest since December 2003. AP Article