Sales of new homes up 2.7%
New home sales show some signs of life, but September sales were still a third lower than year-ago levels.
"In response to slower sales, home builders have been reducing their production. As a result inventory has fallen, but there were still about 394,000 new single family residences on the market at the end of September. At the current pace of sales, that would take 10.4 months to sell through."
[EDIT. Importantly, the inventory of unsold homes fell sharply in September to 394,000, from 425,000 in August, in what appears to be the largest monthly drop since record-keeping began in 1963. Inventories are now at their lowest since June 2004, 174,000 below the June 2006 peak of 570,000, and not all that far from normal levels of about 350,000.]
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