Morning Briefing: New home sales dipped slightly last month

New home sales dipped slightly last month… Iowa sales, prices edge higher…Former fashion exec lists NYC townhouse for $17 million…

New home sales dipped slightly last month
Sales of newly built homes were down in March compared to February’s upwardly-revised figure. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of 511,000 revealed by the HUD and US Census Bureau was 1.5 per cent lower but inventory is at 5.8 months with 246,000 homes available.

“Though sales were flat this month, they are running modestly higher on a year-over-year basis,” said NAHB chief economist Robert Dietz. “We expect the sales pace to rise through 2016, given ongoing low mortgage interest rates and healthy job creation.”

The Midwest saw the largest increase in sales (up 18.5 per cent) with the South also gaining (5 per cent); the West and Northeast were unchanged.

The median sales price of new homes nationally was $288,000.
 
Iowa sales, prices edge higher
Sales and prices of homes in Iowa gained in the first quarter of 2016 according to new figures from the Iowa Association of Realtors. Sales were up 4.2 per cent at 7,008 and median sale price gained 1.7 per cent to $135,500.

As with many parts of the US, Iowa is suffering from low inventory; 14,264 homes were on the market in March 2016, down 17.6 per cent from a year earlier.

IAR president Ken Clark said that due to the tight supply, those wanting to get a home in the state should get the help of a realtor and have their mortgage ready: “Buyers must be pre-approval with financing in order. Then they will be able to move quickly to purchase the home they want. We have heard of many cases of homes with four or more offers within the first few days of it being on the market.”
 
Former fashion exec lists NYC townhouse for $17 million
Robert Duffy, co-founder of Marc Jacobs International, has listed his New York City townhouse for $17 million. Business Insider reports that the Greenwich Village home is a 4-story, 5-bedroom property with elevator and private garden.

According to public records, the home was bought for $10.25 million in 2010, which could mean a cool profit it sells for near asking. The listing is with the Arends Team of Douglas Elliman.