No matter how you look at it, there was really nothing positive about the national data releases covering July new and existing home sales figures released earlier this week.  But as the county-level data starts to roll in to our data platform, Housing IntelligencePro, we have been able to single out a few of the early reporting areas that managed to post gains in new home closings in July, and so we thought we’d feature them for our readers this week.

While the new home market remains down from a year ago in terms of sales activity, some of the large public builders have managed to improve on their pace of sales.  Our data feature this week ranks the public builders in terms of the percentage change in closings for the first six months of 2010 versus the first six months of 2009, courtesy of Housing IntelligencePro.  Richmond American (MDC) tops the list, closing 15% more homes than they did in the first half of 2009, followed by DR Horton with +7% and MI Homes at +6%.
 

You may have seen a recent headline on high end home sales performing well this year, with the suggestion by our friends at the National Association of Realtors that it is primarily due to low jumbo mortgage rates.  While low mortgage rates have definitely improved the affordability scenario, that trend has been across the board of all price categories, so in our data feature this week we decided to take a closer look at what else could contribute to the sales of high end homes in particular, including new construction, courtesy of Housing IntelligencePro.

A builder ranking by price per square foot makes up our data feature this week, looking at which home builders have the highest average price per square foot on new closings so far in 2010.  Leading the list is Toll Brothers, reflecting their up-market product offerings, followed by Brookfield Homes and the builder of the active adult mecca The Villages in Florida.  Of note, the prevalence of highly ranking builders on the list who are known for catering to retirees reflects the typically larger asset holdings and savings of that demographic group.
 

Our data feature this week looks at which housing markets across the country have the largest share of new home closings compared to overall home closings, courtesy of Housing IntelligencePro.  The far and away number one was the active-adult nexus of The Villages in Florida, while six other markets follow in which new homes capture more than 30% of all home sales.  To put this in perspective, the national average is about 10%, so these markets definitely have an inordinately large emphasis on new construction.  All of these markets had at least 500 new home closings so far in 2010, although none of them exceeded 1500.  The first on the list to do so is #9 Raleigh, NC, which has had 2,600 new home closings so far this year which account for 29.5% of all home closings.  The first over 4,000 new home closings is #16 San Antonio, where new homes make up 21% of the market so far this year, and #17 Houston has nearly 10,000 new closings this year which account for 21% of that market also.   Last place?  That would be #82, perennial punching bag Detroit, where new homes have only made up 3% of the market so far in 2010.

As a follow up to our data feature last week about how Banks Sell More Homes than Builders, this week we take a quick look at just how much REO sales undercut the market courtesy of Housing Intelligence Pro.  REO Sales encompass transactions from any financial institution, and closely correlate with what would be considered distressed property sales.  Since the beginning of 2009, these sales have only commanded a closing price at $91 per square foot, while new homes and regular resales have a combined average price per square foot of $140.  That means the delta is nearly $50 per square foot, making it clear why distressed property sales can be so damaging for price stability in local market areas, and making it extremely difficult for home builders to keep their products priced competitively.