The U.S. Census Bureau this morning released data on new single-family home sales for October. Sales rose 0.7% month-over-month, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 458,000, from a downwardly revised September sales figure of 455,000. The consensus estimate for October called for sales of 470,000.

Year-over-year October sales rose 1.8% compared with 450,000 a year ago.

New home sales in September are the highest since July of 2008, and are up 17% year-over-year for the month. At the peak in 2005, new home sales posted a seasonally adjusted annual rate of nearly 1.4 million.

The Census Bureau also reported that the median sales price for new homes sold in September rose from $259,000 in September to $305,000 and the average sales price rose from $313,200 to $401,000. At the end of October the number of new homes for sale rose from 207,000 in September to 212,000, a supply of 5.6 months at the current sales rate.

In October, 48% of sales were for homes priced at less than $300,000, and the percentage of homes sold in the $200,000 to $299,999 price range slipped 4 points to 28%. The sharp rise in the median and average prices is due to the sale of more expensive houses in October, with a jump of 6 points in homes priced over $750,000.

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