The U.S. Commerce Department reported this week that new-home sales rose 7.9% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 764,000 units, which is 18.6% higher than a year ago and the highest monthly sales pace since July 2007. While new-home sales are increasing, new-home inventories fell 6.6% from a year ago and are now the lowest since 2017. The National Association of REALTORS® and others are calling on home builders to increase residential home construction to meet increased demand, but a labor shortage, higher costs of construction and possible supply-chain disruption due to COVID-19 may limit homebuiders’ ability to respond to the increased demand.

In the Twin Cities region, for the week ending February 29:

• New Listings increased 8.0% to 1,395
• Pending Sales increased 12.2% to 1,083
• Inventory decreased 13.1% to 7,785

For the month of January:

• Median Sales Price increased 4.2% to $270,000
• Days on Market increased 3.1% to 67
• Percent of Original List Price Received decreased 0.1% to 97.0%
• Months Supply of Homes For Sale decreased 11.1% to 1.6

All comparisons are to 2019

Click here for the full Weekly Market Activity Report. From MAAR Market Data News.