Solid Gold Berjangka | US sales of new houses rose in September to the fastest pace since early 2022, suggesting there’s still some appetite for homes despite soaring mortgage rates.
Purchases of new single-family homes increased 12.3% to a 759,000 annualized pace last month, government data showed Wednesday. The figure topped all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
The market for new homes has broadly held firm in the face of decades-high mortgage rates and elevated housing prices. Though these factors risk pushing more prospective buyers to the sidelines, the lack of listings in the resale market has so far underpinned demand for new construction.
New-housing inventory rose to the highest level since February. Homebuilders, meanwhile, have been offering financial incentives in an effort to lure buyers.
As mortgage rates have increased, homebuilder PulteGroup Inc. “responded with adjustments in product, pricing and incentive programs that successfully address consumers’ biggest pain point — affordability,” Chief Executive Officer Ryan Marshall said Tuesday on the company’s earnings call.
The median sales price of a new home dropped to $418,800, according to the report from the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Despite the decline, that’s still well above pre-pandemic levels.
Whether the pace of sales can be sustained with such high borrowing costs is unclear. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the average contract rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage jumped to 7.9% last week, pushing down a measure of applications to finance a purchase down to the lowest level since 1995.
Source : Bloomberg, PT SGB, SOLID GOLD BERJANGKA, SOLID GROUP









