There is an instance where builders "take new homes off the market" and then put them back on.
It is called a "purchase contract cancellation" and it is happening with rather high frequency. Some builders are reporting back-outs on purchase contracts over 20%: Lennar, DR Horton -- both reported back-outs over 20% back in September. Actually, Lennar reported cancellations over 30%. We'll have new numbers when they report in the coming quarter. The historical average for cancellation rates is in the 15% to 20% range, BTW.
The effect of high cancellations of new home purchases is to overstate the new home sales rate and understate the unsold inventory numbers.
You cannot look at the Dep't of Commerce's "new home sales" numbers for this month and make any sense of it, because of the cancellation issue. The DOC (Census Bureau, actually) counts the sale when the contract is signed. They have NO mechanism for reporting back-outs on purchase contracts, and the don't re-count the house when it goes back on the market after the back-out. They count only the initial contract signing.
This is why the government's real estate stats are so widely at variance with the gloom being reported in the homebuilders' 10-K's and 10-Q's. To get a real sense of what is going on, look at mortgage originations, defaults, and the quarterly reports of the homebuilders. When you do look at these numbers, the picture is getting clearer all the time: high short-term interest rates, coupled with high leverage by house buyers, has taken the bloom off the real estate market in coastal regions. In the midwest, things are looking pretty stable. In places like Florida, San Diego, Vegas, etc -- things are looking pretty grim.
The government stats have become basically worthless, especially in the month they're released. The revisions correct them somewhat, but overall, the government stats simply aren't capturing reality any more. The market, ie, Adam Smith's "invisible hand" moves ever onward, and bureaucrats have refused to adapt.
A purchase agreement is not counted as a sale, so they are not overstating sales. Cancellations were high but are moving lower. Sales are up. Prices are up. Home Builders stock shot up over 2% today based on this news. Doom and gloomers are stretching to find any bad news here.
In central Illinois, I don't think there has been much appreciation in the last couple of years. It got hot for a couple years, then went back to sluggishly normal. Homes are still selling if they are priced right. Some people haven't received word that the market doesn't appreciate at 10% every year in our community.