New home sales increased for the second consecutive month in March and was at its highest monthly rate since September. March new home sales came in at a 724,000 unit rate, up 7.4% from February and up 6.0% from the 683,000 unit rate in March 2024.
Shipments of HVAC equipment continued to climb on a month-over-month basis but were down from last year. February HVAC shipments totaled 1.700 million units, up 1.9% from January but were down 1.5% compared to the 1.727 million unit total in February 2024.
Shipments of tractors and combines continued to rebound in March, however that is mainly due to seasonality. March tractor and combine shipments (U.S. and Canada) totaled 18,066 units, up 68.1% from February, but was still down 11.0% from March last year.
After a slow start to the year, new home sales rebounded in February. February new home sales came in at a 676,000 unit rate, up 1.8% from January and up 5.1% from February 2024.
