Builder Stocks Tumble On New-Home Sales Data
28 Mai 2009 - 5:18PM
Dow Jones News
New-home sales might have climbed ever-so-slightly in April, but
the median price took another big tumble, dragging down home
builder stocks in early trading.
Ryland's (RYL) 9.13% decline led the sector's fall, followed by
Beazer (BZH) being shaved by 7%. All of the major builders showed
losses above 3.2%, with the Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction Index
down 6.25%.
Sales of single-family homes increased by 0.3% to a seasonally
adjusted annual rate of 352,000 compared to the prior month, the
Commerce Department said Thursday.
March sales were revised lower, falling 3.0% to an annual rate
to 351,000, Thursday's data showed. Originally, the government said
March sales fell 0.6% to 356,000.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expected April sales
up 2.5% to 365,000. Year-over-year, new-home sales were 34.0% lower
than the level in April 2008.
For a new home, the median price dropped in April by 14.9% to
$209,700, down from $246,400 in April 2008, the Commerce data
Thursday said. The average price fell 19.2% to $254,000 from
$314,300 a year earlier. In March 2009, the median price was
$202,200 and the average was $257,100.
Also forcing prices lower are a glut of unsold houses on the
market. At the end of April, there were an estimated 297,000 homes
for sale, down from the 310,000 for sale at the end of March. But
the ratio of houses for sale to houses sold in April remained high,
at 10-to-1. It was 10-to-6 in March.
Lower prices aren't the only problem: The market is bedeviled by
foreclosures. Buyers are gobbling distressed properties priced
cheaply, and passing up on new homes.
On Wednesday, the National Association of Realtors reported
existing-home sales increased 2.9% in April. Many of the sales
continued to be foreclosures and short sales. The median home price
dropped 15.4% to $170,200 from $201,300 in April 2008.
-By Dawn Wotapka, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5248;
dawn.wotapka@dowjones.com
-(Jeff Bater and Meena Thiruvengadam contributed to this
report.)