- Housing News
- October 29, 2021
House Prices Continue Rising to New Record Levels
It was much the same song when it came to home prices in August; they just keep going up and up and up.
It was much the same song when it came to home prices in August; they just keep going up and up and up.
Over the last few months, new home sales have stemmed the tide that saw sales decline in April, May, and June. But the modest increase seen in July and August's continued improvement doesn't hold a candle to what happened in September.
It appears that new home sales have fully shaken off the period of declines that saw sales drop in April, May, and June. That streak ended in July when new home sales held steady. And things got even better in August.
With inventory for existing homes consistently running well behind historical norms, homebuyers are increasingly pivoting to buying a newly built home instead.
Despite a dip in mortgage applications in July, 2021 had the second-strongest July since 2012, with new home sales unchanged from June.
For the fourth month in a row, mortgage applications for new home purchases have declined.
It appears that June's good news on the new home front was short-lived, as a new report shows that construction of new single-family homes declined in July.
For much of the year, one of the common concerns among would-be homebuyers is that there are simply not enough homes on the market. It looks like there might be a bit of a light at the end of that tunnel, especially for first-time homebuyers.
Considering that mortgage applications for new home purchases were down in June, it probably shouldn’t come as a shock that when the new home sales data for June came out, it showed that sales were down too.
There's some good news on the new home front, as construction of new single-family homes continued increasing in June. But the news isn't all good as prices continued rising as well.