New Home Sales During DECEMBER 2025

The December, 2025 New Home Sales report was released by the Commerce Department:

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Previous Month (unrevised): 758,000

• Actual New Home Sales: 745,000

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• Change from 1-Month Previous: -13,000 units (-1.72%)
  
  
• Change from 1-Year Previous: +27,000 units (+3.76%)

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Median Price for a New Home
During December, 2025: $414,400

• Change from One-Year Previous: -$8,600 (-2.03%)

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Average Price for a New Home
During December, 2025: $532,600

• Change from One-Year Previous: +$23,700 (+4.66%)

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Inventory: 472,000 (-17,000 units / -3.48% Year-on-Year)

• 7.6 months supply at current sales rate; seasonally‐adjusted estimate.

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CHART: Cost of A Newly Built Home
DECEMBER 2025 Update

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• CHART: Cost of A Newly Built Home.
  
  
• Click Here for Existing Home Sales Prices and a Chart.
  
  
• Click Here for The Monthly Existing Home Sales Report.

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Compiled jointly by the U.S. Commerce Department and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the yellow-highlighted figure above is the seasonally adjusted and annualized number of newly-built homes with committed buyers for the indicated month.

The New Home Sales report is watched by economists and investors because it offers insight into the state of the U.S. housing market, and also provides data that can be used to predict sales of large household furniture and appliances like refrigerators, air conditioners, microwave ovens, etc.

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• Click here to view the full Commerce Department report (PDF)
  
  

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Consumer Sentiment: FINAL Results for FEBRUARY 2026

The University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment (ICS) - FINAL Results for February, 2026 was released today:

Predicted: 55.0

• Actual: 56.6

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• Change from Previous Month: +0.35% (+0.2 point)
  
  

• Change from 12-Months Previous: -12.52% (-8.1 points)

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• Final ICS Reading for January 2026: 56.4
  
  
• Final ICS Reading for February 2025: 64.7

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From Today's Report:

"...Consumer sentiment stagnated this month with very little change, just 0.2 index points higher than January. All index components posted insignificant movements this month; overall, consumers do not perceive any material differences in the economy from last month.

About 46% of consumers spontaneously mentioned high prices eroding their personal finances; readings have exceeded 40% for seven months in a row. Sentiment is about 13% below a year ago and 21% below January 2025.

That said, views vary considerably across the population. A sizable month-to-month increase in sentiment for the largest stockholders was fully offset by a decline among consumers without stock holdings. Similar divergences were seen across income and education, where higher-income or college educated consumers exhibited increases in sentiment while lower-income or less-educated counterparts did not.

With their much stronger income prospects and investment portfolios, wealthier and higher-income consumers feel better insulated from any possible risks to the economy.

Year-ahead inflation expectations fell from 4.0% last month to 3.4% this month, the lowest reading since January 2025. This month’s reading still exceeds those seen in 2024 and remains well above the 2.3-3.0% range seen in the two years pre-pandemic.

Long-run inflation expectations held steady at 3.3%, just above the 2.8% and 3.2% range seen in 2024. In 2019 and 2020, long-run inflation expectations were consistently below 2.8%. Uncertainty, as measured by the middle 50% of expectations, is now its lowest since December 2024 for the short run and October 2024 for the long run..."

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CHART: Inflation Expectations Remain Elevated
but Recently Converged for Consumers
Who Did and Did Not Mention Tariffs 
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The ICS is derived from the following five survey questions:

1. "We are interested in how people are getting along financially these days. Would you say that you (and your family living there) are better off or worse off financially than you were a year ago?"
   
   
2. "Now looking ahead, do you think that a year from now you (and your family living there) will be better off financially, or worse off, or just about the same as now?"
   
   
3. "Now turning to business conditions in the country as a whole, do you think that during the next twelve months we'll have good times financially, or bad times, or what?"
   
   
4. "Looking ahead, which would you say is more likely: that in the country as a whole we'll have continuous good times during the next five years or so, or that we will have periods of widespread unemployment or depression, or what?"
   
   
5. "About the big things people buy for their homes, such as furniture, a refrigerator, stove, television, and things like that. Generally speaking, do you think now is a good or bad time for people to buy major household items?"
   

=========

• Click here for more on how the ICS is calculated.

=========

The ICS uses a 1966 baseline, i.e. for 1966, the ICS = 100. So any number that is below the 1966 baseline of 100 means that the folks who were polled recently aren't as optimistic about the U.S. economy as those polled back in 1966.

The ICS is similar to the Consumer Confidence Index in that they both measure consumer attitudes and offer valuable insight into consumer spending.

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The "predicted" figure is what economists were expecting, while the "actual" is the true or real figure.

=========

• Click here to view the full University of Michigan report.

=========

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Existing Home Sales During JANUARY 2026

Existing Home Sales report for January, 2026 was released by The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR®) this morning:

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Previous Month: 4,270,000

• Actual: 3,910,000

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•  Change from Previous Month: -8.43% (-360,000 homes)
  
  
•  Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y): -4.4% (-180,000 homes)

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• Inventory: 1,220,000 homes.

(3.7 months supply | +40,000 [+3.39%] homes Y-o-Y.)

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The yellow-highlighted, "actual" figure above represents the preliminary, seasonally adjusted annualized sales count of existing homes, co-ops and condominiums for the indicated month. The "predicted" figure is what economists were expecting, while the "actual" is the true or real figure.

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• Median Price: $396,800
  
  
• Price Change from A Year Ago: +0.86% (+$3,400)

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• Click Here for Historical Prices and a Chart.
  
  
• Click Here for New Home Sales Data.
  
  
• Click Here for the monthly New Home Sales report.

==========

From Today's Report:

"...'The decrease in sales is disappointing. The below-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation this January make it harder than usual to assess the underlying driver of the decrease and determine if this month’s numbers are an aberration,' said NAR Chief Economist Dr. Lawrence Yun.

'Affordability conditions are improving, with NAR’s Housing Affordability Index showing that housing is the most affordable it’s been since March 2022. This is due to wage gains outpacing home price growth and mortgage rates being lower than a year ago. However, supply has not kept pace and remains quite low.'

'Due to low supply, the median home price reached a new high for the month of January,' Yun added. 'Homeowners are in a financially comfortable position as a result. Since January 2020, a typical homeowner would have accumulated $130,500 in housing wealth.'..."

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INFOGRAPHIC: Existing Home Sales

JANUARY 2026 UPDATE
(Copyright © 2026 REALTORS®)

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==================

• Click here to view the NAR® data.

==================

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Consumer Sentiment: PRELIMINARY Results for FEBRUARY 2026

The University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment (ICS) - PRELIMINARY Results for February, 2026 was released today:

Predicted: 52.0

• Actual: 57.3

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• Change from Previous Month: +1.6% (+0.9 point)
  
  

• Change from 12-Months Previous: -11.44% (-7.4 points)

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• Final ICS Reading for January, 2026: 56.4
  
  
• Final ICS Reading for February, 2025: 64.7

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From Today's Report:

"...Consumer sentiment was essentially unchanged, inching up less than one index point from last month and sitting about 20% below January 2025. Sentiment surged for consumers with the largest stock portfolios, while it stagnated and remained at dismal levels for consumers without stock holdings.

On net, modest increases in current personal finances and buying conditions for durables were offset by a small decline in long-run business conditions.

While sentiment is currently the highest since August 2025, recent monthly increases have been small -- well under the margin of error -- and the overall level of sentiment remains very low from a historical perspective. Concerns about the erosion of personal finances from high prices and elevated risk of job loss continue to be widespread. Interviews for this release cover the two-week period that ended this past Monday.

Year-ahead inflation expectations fell from 4.0% last month to 3.5% this month, the lowest reading since January 2025. This month’s reading still exceeds those seen in 2024 and remains well above the 2.3-3.0% range seen in the two years pre-pandemic.

Long-run inflation expectations inched up for the second straight month, from 3.3% last month to 3.4% this month. In comparison, readings ranged between 2.8% and 3.2% in 2024, and were below 2.8% throughout 2019 and 2020..."

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CHART: Wealth Gaps in Sentiment Continue to Widen,
Mirroring Trends Seen in 2023 and 2024

FEBRUARY 2026 UPDATE

 =========

The ICS is derived from the following five survey questions:

1. "We are interested in how people are getting along financially these days. Would you say that you (and your family living there) are better off or worse off financially than you were a year ago?"
   
   
2. "Now looking ahead, do you think that a year from now you (and your family living there) will be better off financially, or worse off, or just about the same as now?"
   
   
3. "Now turning to business conditions in the country as a whole, do you think that during the next twelve months we'll have good times financially, or bad times, or what?"
   
   
4. "Looking ahead, which would you say is more likely: that in the country as a whole we'll have continuous good times during the next five years or so, or that we will have periods of widespread unemployment or depression, or what?"
   
   
5. "About the big things people buy for their homes, such as furniture, a refrigerator, stove, television, and things like that. Generally speaking, do you think now is a good or bad time for people to buy major household items?"
   

=========

• Click here for more on how the ICS is calculated.

=========

The ICS uses a 1966 baseline, i.e. for 1966, the ICS = 100. So any number that is below the 1966 baseline of 100 means that the folks who were polled recently aren't as optimistic about the U.S. economy as those polled back in 1966.

The ICS is similar to the Consumer Confidence Index in that they both measure consumer attitudes and offer valuable insight into consumer spending.

=========

The "predicted" figure is what economists were expecting, while the "actual" is the true or real figure.

=========

• Click here to view the full University of Michigan report.

=========

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