NAHB says latest housing inventory data points toward better days

With new and existing single-family home sales on the rise for the fourth consecutive month in June, realtors may be getting downright giddy. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), Washington, D.C., says in its “Eye on the Economy email newsletter that the news gets even better. Says NAHB, “In an even more upbeat sign of a budding recovery, the inventory of new single-family homes for sale has fallen to 271,000, its lowest level since March 1993. Inventories have been falling for 27 months from a peak of 572,000 homes for sale in July 2006. A higher sales rate and lower inventory reduced July’s supply of housing to 7.5 months, down from 8.5 months in June. The months’ supply measures how long it would take to sell the current inventory of homes based on the month’s sales rate. As recently as January, this measure stood at an all-time high of 12.4 months.