Inventory, on dealers’ lots, at the end of June increased after seeing a slight decline in May. Light vehicle inventory ended June at 2.820 million units, up 3.4% from May and up a sharp 47.8% from the 1.908 million units at the end of June 2023. Inventories of both cars and light trucks increased from the previous month, climbing 0.5% and 4.0%, respectively. Current light truck inventory is at its highest level since March 2020.
U.S. light vehicle sales totaled 1.322 million units, down 7.6% from May and down 3.4% from June 2023. The main reason for the drop in June sales was due to a wide cyberattack that impacted a third party, used by over 15,000 dealers, to process sales. It is being estimated that the cyber issues decreased sales in June by at least 50,000 units. As of this writing the issue appears to be resolved and sales are expected to be made up for in July. Despite the decline in June sales, the year-to-date total (7.824 million units) remains 2.3% above the total from the first half of 2023.
The May new home sales came in at a 619,000 unit rate, down 11.3% from April and down 16.5% from the 741,000 unit rate in May 2023. This was the first year-over-year decline since March 2023. The inventory of new homes for sale increased to 480,000, up from 466,000 in April and is at its highest total since January 2008. The current inventory, when combined with May’s sales pace, equates to 8.6 months of supply. The median sales price declined slightly to $417,400, down from $417,9000 in April.
The May industrial production index came in at 103.3, up from, a downwardly revised, 102.5 in April. Within the overall index, the manufacturing component increased a similar 0.9% after sliding in the previous two months. Within manufacturing, the durable manufacturing component increased 0.6%. The largest increases were in the indexes for wood products, machinery, and for computer and electronic products.
