The U. S. Census Bureau announced on November 25, 2009 that sales of new one-family homes surged by 6.2% in October 2009 over the previous month to 430,000 units. Regionally, results were mixed, with the West down -5.1%, the South up +23.2%, the Midwest down -20.0%, and the Northeast down -5.1%.
The inventory of homes for sale expressed in months of supply fell sharply to 6.7 months. This supply figure was at 11.1 months a year ago and peaked at 12.4 months in January 2009. Many real estate professionals consider 6-to-7 months of supply a “Normal” market.
This surge in sales is surprising in that the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit was expiring on November 30, 2009, and buyers would have run out of time to buy a home and still close by the end of November.
Even though the Tax Credit was extended and signed by President Obama on November 6, 2009, it should take several weeks before the next batch of home buyers can get themselves geared up to buy a home.
So we would expect new home sales to fall in November, and probably even in December too before rising again in January.
See the full report: http://www.census.gov/const/newressales.pdf
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