New home sales

Economic significance

Limitations

• Statistics exclude any new houses that were not built for immediate sale. For example, in the situation where a purchaser commissions a builder to build a house on a lot that the purchaser already owns, this housing unit would not be included in the statistics. Other construction statistics, such as Permits, starts and completions, do include virtually all new residential construction.
• Sales are reported as of the month that a customer signs a sales contract or the builder accepts a deposit. The house can be in any stage of construction.
• Sales are not reduced to account for sales contracts which are subsequently cancelled by the customer or the builder. However, in those situations where a cancellation occurs, the house is not re-counted upon a subsequent sale to another customer.