The Blog Calculated Risk has for some time been commenting on the
"distressing gap" between the Nation's new home sales and existing home sales. The two categories normally track closely together, but now display a divergence, which in the past Calculated Risk has attributed to the inability of builders to compete with the Foreclosure/REO market, often for similar homes in the same neighborhoods. The gap has recently widened further as a result of the first time homebuyer credit.
We think another factor in the paucity of new construction sales is affordability, as
discussed in our most recent monthly evaluation of affordability in the Kitsap real estate market.
