new-home sales jumped in January from the previous month to the highest level
since July 2008, a sign that the housing recovery is accelerating.
The Commerce Department said Tuesday that new-home sales
rose nearly 16 percent in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of
437,000. The percentage increase was the largest in nearly 20 years. And
December’s sales were revised higher to 378,000 from 369,000.
Steady job creation and near-record-low mortgage rates are
spurring more Americans to buy houses. Sales of previously occupied homes rose
to the highest level in five years last year.
At the same time, the number of previously occupied homes
for sale is at a 13-year low. That shortage creates more demand for new homes.
Builders began construction on the most houses and apartments in four years
last year.
The supply of new homes for sale was unchanged last month at
150,000. That’s barely above August’s total of 143,000 – the smallest supply of
new homes on records dating back to 1963.
At the current sales pace, it would take just 4.1 months to
exhaust the number of new homes for sale, the lowest in eight years. Low
inventories should encourage more construction.
Though new homes represent less than 20 percent of the
housing sales market, they have an outsize impact on the economy. Each home
built creates an average of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000
in tax revenue, according to data from the National Association of Homebuilders.
