New-Home Sales Trends Look Solid

The Commerce Department reported an 11.4 percent dive in new-home sales last month compared to February, but industry insiders remain encouraged by other, broader measures of market performance. March’s annualized pace of 481,000 units, for example, marks a gain of nearly 20 percent from the same month of last year; and the quarterly sales total of 129,000 for the first three months of the year is almost 22 percent higher than a year ago. Based on those metrics, there is broad consensus that 2015 will outperform 2014, when sales were basically flat. “It’s a normal spring pickup, and it’s a stronger market than last year,” agrees John Burns, CEO of John Burns Real Estate Consulting, who projects that new-home sales volume this year will top last year by 11 percent. | Read More