"Mortgage rates are near 6%, which means it costs builders less to do a buy-down, and because they sell homes as a commodity, they're trying their best to manage this cycle and their profit margins. This means selling a new home in recent years has been more of a calculation on how much builder credit they can and need to give."
"From Census: New Home Sales: Sales of new single-family houses in December 2025 were at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 745,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 1.7 percent (14.5 percent)* below the November 2025 rate of 758,000, and is 3.8 percent (18.3 percent)* above the December 2024 rate of 718,000."
"The seasonally-adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of December 2025 was 472,000. This is 2.7 percent (1.3 percent) below the November 2025 estimate of 485,000, and is 3.5 percent (4.8 percent)* below the December 2024 estimate of 489,000. This represents a supply of 7.6 months at the current sales rate. The months' supply is 1.3 percent (12.2 percent)* below the November 2025 estimate of 7.7 months, and is 7.3 percent (15.0 percent)* below the December 2024 estimate of 8.2 months."
Sales of new single-family houses in December 2025 occurred at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 745,000, down slightly from November 2025 and up from December 2024. New houses for sale at the end of December 2025 numbered 472,000, representing a 7.6-month supply, with months' supply declining versus prior periods. Mortgage rates near 6% lower builder buy-down costs, incentivizing builders to offer credits to protect margins and move inventory. Excluding the COVID-19 sales spike and the 2022 lows, new home sales have largely traded within a range for about a decade. Builders historically resist completed inventory levels above 120,000, which tends to slow construction activity.
Read at www.housingwire.com
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