The new home sales zombie

It sounds like prices are dropping overall, and people are trying to get in before interest rates rise. I probably would have bought something around here already if all the houses weren't so damn ugly. What I'd like to find out is what counts as a 'new home' -- my impression would be that there's relatively little new construction here in eastern Massachusetts compared to the rest of the US.

"New homes sales sprang back to life like a zombie in a cheap horror flick," Brusca said. "And like that zombie, housing really is dead. Don't let all that twitching fool you."

[...]

Meanwhile, average prices fell 7.1 percent from February to $279,100, after topping $300,000 for the first time in the February revised figures. The median price, which reflects the point at which half the homes sell for more and half sell for less, also fell 6.5 percent to $224,200.

And while month-to-month declines in home prices are not unusual, more significantly, prices also fell from a year earlier: a 2.2 percent decline in median prices and a 3.6 percent fall in average prices over that time.

Link