Overview
- The joint Census and HUD report released on June 24 showed new single-family home sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 580,000 in May, a 7.3% monthly decline and a 6.8% year-over-year drop.
- Measured on the same report, for-sale inventory stood at 496,000 units, which represents 10.3 months of supply at the current sales pace and matches levels not seen since 2009.
- Mortgage borrowing costs have stayed elevated near 6.5–6.6% and are widely cited by analysts as the main factor squeezing affordability and weakening buyer demand.
- Builders are responding by offering rate buydowns, closing-cost help and other incentives while slowing speculative construction, and the construction pipeline is weakening with housing starts down about 15.4% and permits slightly lower.
- Legislative moves to cut regulatory costs, such as the ROAD to Housing Act, may ease long-term supply constraints but will not speed up near-term construction or restore entry-level new-home production that has fallen in the past year.