Dive Brief:
- The Census Bureau reported that sales of new homes rose 18% last month from April's level, but it's not a rocket-ship takeoff for the industry, analysts caution.
- After a lackluster and very cold winter, analyst Peter Boockvar of The Lindsey Group average out the first five months of the year, and that yields an average of 445,000 sales a month – where the industry was last November.
- There's still a hole at the low end of the market, where first-time buyers live, and Census figures show that the biggest increase in sales was in the $400,000 to $499,000 category.
Dive Insight:
Prices have been rising, but more slowly than in the past year or two. Economist Robert Shiller says they are about right, and people should not "get so worked up about them." Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries says the market has mostly shaken off negative equity and restricted inventory, but the fundamentals that matter now are not great.