New Home Sales: Sales of newly constructed homes declined 2.5 percent last month, from a downwardly revised, seasonally adjusted annual rate of 525,000 units in April to just 512,000 in May.
On a year-over-year basis, sales are currently down a whopping 40.3 percent and, from the peak in July of 2005, sales volume has declined 64 percent.
Existing Home Sales: Sales of existing homes rose 2.0 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 4.99 million units, 15.9 percent lower than last year at this time. The inventory of unsold homes remains historically high, down slightly from 11.2 months in April to 10.8 months in May.
The national median existing-home price fell to $208,600 in May, down 6.3 percent from a year ago when the median was $222,700. Home prices have fallen most in the West, down 16.0 percent over the last year, followed by a 4.3 percent decline in the Northeast.
…An astonishing one-third of all existing homes sold last month were reportedly either foreclosure sales or short-sales…
Housing Starts: Homebuilders began construction on the fewest number of new homes since early in 1991 as housing starts fell 3.3 percent from a downwardly revised, seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 1.008 million in April to 975,000 in May. This represents a decline of 32.1 percent from year ago levels.
