New home market still in free-fall

After a small rebound in April, new home sales in the U.S. continued to fall during May. Prices have also continued to fall while the inventory timeline rose slightly to nearly 10.9 months. From a BuilderOnline.com story:

New-home sales declined 2.5 percent in May, after registering their first increase in five months during April, according to the United States Census. Sales of new homes fell on a seasonally adjusted basis to 512,000 units in May, from 525,000 units the previous month.

New-home sales peaked in this cycle on a seasonally adjusted basis in July 2005, at 1.371 million units. The low point so far during the current bust was registered in March, which has been revised several times and is now recorded at 501,000 units, according to the Census.

Wall Street analysts were predicting 515,000 new-home sales for May, according to Forbes.

New-home sale prices also declined in May, with the median sale price declining to $231,000 from $243,500 in April, and average sale prices declining to $311,300 in May from $321,200. Both price indicators have moved up and down over the last few months, with low points for both falling in October.

Inventory of new homes also increased, rising from a 10.7 months' supply in April to a 10.9 months' supply in May. Inventory hit its peak of an 11.4 months' supply in March.