There were 650,355 new homes sold in March on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, which was a 3.2% decline from the prior month and a 11.5% drop from the previous year, according to a report released Tuesday by Zonda.
Perhaps more alarming is the fact that 40% of home builders surveyed in March told Zonda that “demand is slower and causing concern,” up from just 5% who responded with those sentiments the same month a year ago.
The March metrics should be taken with a grain of salt based on everything that has occurred since, according to Ali Wolf, Zonda’s chief economist.
“The March housing market trends almost seem irrelevant given the current climate,” Wolf wrote. “The on-again-off-again tariffs, wild gyrations in the stock market and volatility in mortgage rates are adding an extra layer of uncertainty for today’s homebuyers. We are tracking to see if consumers can brush it off or decide to move to the sidelines for now.”
Among builders surveyed, 32% lowered new home prices in March, 53% kept prices flat and 15% raised prices.
Similar to recent findings from Redfin, Zonda noted that seller concessions are commonplace in the current market climate, with 56% of new home communities offering incentives in March and 74% providing concessions on quick move-in supply. Those percentages are unchanged from February.
Zonda’s New Home Pending Sales Index (PSI), which combines total sales volume with the average sales rate per month per community, was down 11.3% year over year in March.
Among major metropolitan areas, just four markets saw PSI growth over the past year: Minneapolis (2.2% growth); Baltimore (1.5%); Charlotte, N.C. (1.3%); and Jacksonville, Fla. (0.7%).
By contrast, San Francisco had a steep 39.8% PSI decline. Other metros that fell by at least 20% year over year include the Riverside-San Bernadino area in California; Austin, Texas; Los Angeles; and Seattle.
