• There were 743,000 (SAAR) new single-family home sales nationwide in April. That’s a 10.9% increase from the revised March rate of 670,000. Sales of newly built homes are 3.3% above the April 2024 estimate, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
• The median price of new houses sold was $407,200, down 2.0% from a year ago.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate of new homes for sale at the end of April was 504,000, a supply of 8.1 months at the current sales rate. This is down from 9.1 months in March and higher than the 7.7 months in April 2024.

What happened: New home sales continued to rise in April — pointing to a home shopping season that is still very much underway. New home sales increased in every region except the Northeast.

Why it matters: With the pool of inventory refilling closer to typical levels, more builders are cutting their prices, just as existing home sellers are. Despite economic jitters, lower mortgage rates combined with strategic price cuts and incentives from builders’ are helping more potential home buyers get home.

According to the National Association of Home Builders, more builders cut their prices in April — 29% of builders — compared to 22% this time last year. However, the average price reduction in April remained at just 5%, lower than the 6% seen in April 2024. The share of builders offering sales incentives has increased somewhat. Nearly 61% of builders provided sales incentives of all forms in April, compared to 57% a year ago.

Although builder confidence remains low, recession risk is receding and the worst economic fears — due to trade wars — are somewhat behind us.

Historically, higher inventory leads to more home sales.  The current trend of increased new home sales indicates that affordability challenges are limiting a significant pool of potential buyers who are ready and willing to purchase, but builders are making it work. Unless rates spike again, we expect 2025 to finish with more home sales than last year.