Stable mortgage rates at the beginning of 2024 helped increase new home sales in January. Sales of newly built, single-family homes increased 1.5% last month to a 661,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to newly released data by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. The pace of new home sales in January is up 1.8% from a year ago.

A new home sale occurs when a sales contract is signed or a deposit is accepted. The home can be in any stage of construction: not yet started, under construction or completed. In addition to adjusting for seasonal effects, the January reading of 661,000 units is the number of homes that would sell if this pace continued for the next 12 months.

New single-family home inventory in January remained elevated at a level of 456,000, up 3.9% compared to a year earlier. This represents an 8.3-month supply at the current building pace. A measure near a six-month supply is considered balanced.

A year ago, there were 72,000 completed, ready-to-occupy homes available for sale (not seasonally adjusted). By the end of January 2024, that number increased 19.4% to 86,000.

However, completed, ready-to-occupy inventory remains at just 19% of the total inventory, while homes under construction account for 58% of the inventory. The remaining 23% of new homes sold in January were homes that had not started construction when the sales contract was signed.

NAHB Assistant Vice President for Forecasting and Analysis Danushka Nanayakkara-Skillington provides more details, including regional data and home prices, in this Eye on Housing post.