The Commerce Department reports that new home sales in June 2023 were up 23.8% compared to June 2022, while existing home sales were down 18.9% over the same period. New home starts increased by 6.7% from June to July and were up 9.5% year-on-year. New homes are selling quickly despite high mortgage rates, because of a shortage of existing homes on the market due, in part, to the historically low mortgage rates on many existing homes.
With rising new home starts comes an increase in construction…
