The Federal Reserve of Atlanta's monthly survey of Realtors and homebuilders in its region saw home sales weaken notably in June though sales remained above last year's levels. Many brokers noted that sales continued to benefit from the housing stimulus as buyers closed on contracts signed prior to the April 30, 2010, deadline. However, close to half of survey respondents reported that sales in June declined compared with May.
Reports from Southeastern homebuilders indicated that new home sales also continued to weaken in June, falling farther below last year's level.
Buyer traffic continued to soften in June on a year-over-year basis.
Reports also indicated that traffic slowed notably from May to June. Typically, buyer traffic rises from May to June and remains strong in June, but more than half of brokers and builders surveyed reported that buyer traffic declined from May to June.
The outlook for sales growth among both brokers and builders continued to weaken.
Note: June survey results are based on responses from 83 residential brokers and 54 homebuilders and were collected July 5–15. The housing survey's diffusion indexes are calculated as the percentage of total respondents reporting increases minus the percentage reporting declines. Positive values in the index indicate increased activity while negative values indicate decreased activity.
By Whitney Mancuso, analyst in the Atlanta Fed's research department