The U.S. Department of Housing and Development and the U.S. Census Bureau announced this week that sales of new, single-family homes increased by a massive 18% in August (with an adjusted annual rate at over 500,000 units!) This number shows the housing market at its highest level in 6 years! And this information comes on the heels of builders across the country seeing an increased traffic of serious homebuyers. The Chief Economist for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) contributes this growth to, “historically low mortgage rates, attractive home prices and firming job and economic growth.” Every region of the country saw an increase in home sales (sans the Midwest), with the West seeing a 50 percent increase over the past month alone!

With the outlook on the rest of the year looking strong, it seems the economy is slowly returning to the status it was before the economic downturn. The Department estimates an inventory of new homes for sale at around 203,000, which is barely a 5-month supply. But rest assured, we here at Park Ridge Builders are hard at work to push those numbers higher!