The U.S. new home market showed signs of a rebound in January 2022. The market capitalization for American homebuilders ticked up for the month over a potential bottom of 2021's downtrend in December. Political Calculations' initial estimate of the overall market capitalization of the U.S. new home market for January 2022 is $27.53 billion, an increase of 0.5% from December 2021's revised estimate of $27.38 billion.

The increase in the market cap for new homes was driven by two factors. First, the number of new home sales rose, continuing the increase in sales that began after November 2021. Second, the average sale price jumped higher, as 2021's rising trend for new home prices reasserted itself.

The following two charts visualize the trailing twelve-month averages of the U.S. new home market's underlying annualized sales and average price data.

New home sales continued increasing:

New home prices resumed rising:

With both new home sales and prices rising in January 2022, the market cap for the U.S. new home market ticked upward, breaking its year-long downtrend and moving into positive growth. The question now becomes how long can that last with new homes becoming less affordable for the typical American household?