U.S. new home sales fell 4.7% in April from the previous month. The national average sales price was $505,700.
WASHINGTON – New home purchases fell in April as rising mortgage rates and prices and a lack of housing supply continued to deter buyers.
According to estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), new single-family home sales rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 634,000 units. This is 4.7% lower than the revised March figure of 665,000, and 7.7% lower than the April 2023 forecast of 687,000. The median sales price for new homes sold in April 2024 was $433,500. The average selling price was $505,700, according to the Census Bureau.
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said housing affordability remains an issue across the country.
According to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Cost Index, a typical household would need 38% of their income to make a mortgage payment on a median-priced new single-family home in the first quarter of 2024. A low-income household, defined as one making only 50% of the area median income, would have to spend 77% of their income to buy the same new home.
The figure also closely tracks U.S. purchases of existing homes, according to the NAHB.
The average family would have to pay 36% of their income to buy a median-priced existing home, while low-income families would have to pay 71% of their income for the same mortgage payment.
The Naples-Marco Island area ranks among the top five most cost-burdened markets in the country, according to NAHB/Wells Fargo data. HUD defines cost-burdened households as those paying 30 percent or more of their income on housing, and severely cost-burdened as households paying 50 percent or more of their household income on housing. According to NAHB, the rate is 71% in the Naples-Marco Island region.
“There is a shortage of approximately 1.5 million housing units nationwide, and the shortage of housing units is a major driver of growing housing affordability challenges,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “Policymakers at all levels of government should enact policy changes such as reducing permit approval times, providing resources for skilled worker training and fixing the building materials supply chain so builders can build more housing.”
© 2024 Florida Association of Realtors®
