Newly built home sales fall in California from CNBC.
via CNBC:
The government shutdown hasn’t completely stopped the flow of stunningly bad housing data.
Sales of newly built homes fell 18 percent in December compared with December of 2017, according to data compiled by John Burns Real Estate Consulting, a California-based housing research and analytics firm.
Due to the partial government shutdown, official government figures on home sales for November and December have not been released.
Sales were also down a steep 19 percent annually in November, according to JBRC’s analysts. The firm counts 373 market ratings by local builders overseeing more than 3,500 new home communities, estimated to be 16 percent of U.S. new home sales. JBRC’s figures correlate closely with government readings.
New homes sales took a hit as mortgage rates rose sharply at the start of last fall, putting further stress on a market where prices had been overheating for the past two years.