Inventory of new homes reaches record low

New home sales declined 0.7 percent in July. But inventory of new homes is now the lowest in at least 47 years.

New home sales fell 0.7 percent in July and remains in depressed territory.

SoldAtTheTop

August 23, 2011

Today, the U.S. Census Department released its monthly New Residential Home Sales Report for July showing a monthly decline with sales falling 0.7% since June but increasing 6.8% from July 2010 and remaining at an epically low level of 298K SAAR units.

It's important to recognize that the inventory of new homes has now fallen to a new series low at 165K units, lowest level seen in in at least 47 years while the median number of months for sale declined to 9.4.

The monthly supply remained flat at 6.6 months while the median selling price increased 7.15% and the average selling price increased 4.67% from the year ago level.

The chart above shows the extent of sales decline to date (click for full-larger version).