New-Home Sales Remain Steady in November

New-home sales rose modestly in November as the number of actively selling projects increased and standing inventory became more readily available. However, adjusting for supply, market activity remained flat, according to the latest New Home Market Update from Zonda. 

While the outlook for 2025 entering the year was positive and optimistic, a muted year with affordability and consumer confidence challenges has shifted sentiment toward caution. Instead of actively ramping up sales in anticipation of a blockbuster spring selling season, builders are closely aligning starts with sales. 

“All eyes are on the labor market as we head into 2026,” says Ali Wolf, chief economist for Zonda and NewHomeSource. “2025 was marked by volatility, including three months of national job losses and an increasing number of markets seeing year-over-year declines in high-income employment. A ‘blockbuster’ economy isn’t a prerequisite for a healthy housing market, but stability is essential.” 

Zonda’s new-home sales metric, accounting for cancellations and seasonality, indicates 719,581 new homes were sold in November on a seasonally adjusted annualized rate, up 0.9% from October and 0.2% from a year ago. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, 53,999 homes were sold, 1.3% higher than last year. 

Zonda’s New Home Pending Sales Index (PSI), which accounts for fluctuations in supply, was 136.6 in November, a 1.4% decline from a year ago. The index is 21.6% below cycle highs. On a market level, San Antonio (+14.4%), Orlando (+14.1%), and Minneapolis (+6.9%) posted the largest index increases on a year-over-year basis. Cincinnati (-22.8%), Las Vegas (-17.5%), and Denver (-16.9%) posted the largest annual declines in PSI. 

To provide further context to sales, Zonda created the Zonda Market Ranking (ZMR), a seasonally adjusted metric that accounts for sales pace and volume taken as a percentage relative to a baseline market average. The ZMR indicates the national housing market is “average” in November with a reading of 109.9. 

Entry-level prices declined by 1% in November, move-up home prices held flat, and high-end home prices increased by 3.1% during the month. The increase in the high-end home prices reflects new communities opening at higher price points, improvement in design quality, and larger lots and home sizes. Approximately a third of builders surveyed by Zonda lowered prices in November month over month and 60% offered incentives on to-be-built homes. Seventy-eight percent of builders offered incentives on quick move-in supply in November. 

Quick move-in homes—inventory that can be occupied within 90 days—increased 5.7% on a year-over-year basis to 34,889. For many consumers, QMIs represent an attractive alternative to resale supply given the similar move-in timelines and builder incentives. However, QMIs are not selling as quickly as they did earlier in the year, Zonda notes. There were approximately 2.3 QMIs per community nationally in November, up 14.9% from November 2024, but down from levels in September and October.