US new home sales drop sharply in March

Sales of recent houses fell within the United States ultimate month, authorities statistics said Tuesday, as high expenses endured to crimp demand.

Sales dropped to an annualized fee of 763,000, seasonally adjusted, less than analysts expected, and 8.6 percent beneath the rate in February, which was revised sharply upwards, the Commerce Department reported.

Prices persisted to climb, with the median income rate accomplishing $436,700, not seasonally adjusted, although as sales slowed deliver expanded to five.7 months at the present-day tempo.

After booming during the worst periods of the Covid-19 pandemic, real estate sales have slowed across the United States since buyers cannot find available homes and many cannot afford those on the market, as the Federal Reserve is raising borrowing costs to fight inflation.

“We expect new home sales to lose more momentum as we move further into 2022,” Nancy Vanden Houten of Oxford Economics said.

“Demand may remain strong, but high home prices and the spike in mortgage rates since the end of 2021 — which have increased by a record amount in a compressed period of time — will price some buyers out of the market.”

All areas reported slower sales closing month, with the South seeing the largest drop of 10.2 percent, the Midwest dropping 8.7 percent, the West reporting a decrease of six percent, and the Northeast falling 5.4 percent.