An uptick in new home sales is being seen by industry officials as evidence of an ongoing dearth of such units as well as a response to decreased mortgage rates.
According to figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, sales of new single-family homes increased by 7.4% in March, representing some 682,000 transactions.
The pace of the sales, compared to March of 2025, was up by 3.3%.
In a statement specifically responding to home sale increases in the country’s major metro areas, Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors, noted that gains “were particularly solid across metro areas in the Northeast, where inventory shortages persist, and in the Midwest, where home prices remain relatively affordable.”
The new home sales increase comes as the nation’s single-family home inventory has dropped this spring to 481,000 units. That figure represents a nearly 5% decline over conditions a year ago.
Bill Owens, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, said the increase in home sales “reflects improving demand conditions.”
But Owens, in a statement, added that even though builders are gradually increasing production, “elevated construction costs and labor shortages continue to limit the pace of expansion.”
The median new home sale price, meanwhile, stood at $387,400 in March, sharply down from last December when that figure reached $429,100.
By region, the average price for all homes came in at $505,500 in the Northeast; $308,100 in the Midwest; and $362,300 in the South. Not for the first time, the West provided the strongest figures, with an average sale price of $607,600–and even at that, the average Western home price was down by 2.9% compared with last year at the same time.
Yun also noted that the troubled condominium market may be showing some signs of, at the least, stabilization. In some metro areas, the economist added, condominiums have been “outperforming the single-family market, in terms of price gains.”
May 8, 2026
By Garry Boulard
Graphic courtesy of Pixabay
