"New Home Sales Hold Steady as Existing Home Sales Decline: Understanding the Housing Market's New Normal"

The median price of new single-family houses has decreased by 2.6% from a year ago, prompting homebuilders to offer mortgage-rate buydowns and incentives to maintain sales volume. Sales of new houses have held up better than existing homes, with 57,000 new houses sold in January, up 3.6% from a year ago, while sales of existing homes have plunged by 20% from January 2019. Homebuilders are targeting lower price points and competing aggressively with homeowners, resulting in a narrowing price difference between new and existing houses.