New home inventory months of supply spikes and sales fall off
Posted By:
Tom Sanderson
Date Posted:
Thursday, August 26, 2010
12:52 PM
New home inventory increased to 9.1 months of supply in July from 8.0 months in June, driven by slower sales as the Federal Home Buyer Tax Credits expired. The absolute inventory of new homes continues to fall and is now at 209 thousand, the lowest level seen since the late 1960's. Any recovery in the rate of sales would quickly deplete the low absolute inventory level and lead to a significant increase in housing starts (and freight) but that does not appear likely in the near term. The blue bars in the graphs represent recessions.
