The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Wednesday morning that sales of new homes in December rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 544,000, an increase of 10.8% from the upwardly revised October rate of 491,000 and an increase of 9.9% compared with the December 2014 rate of 495,000. The consensus estimate from a survey of economists expected a rate of around 500,000.
The revision to the November rate added 21,000 to the month’s total. 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 December fell by more than $16,000 from $305,000 in November to $288,900, and the average sales price tumbled by $28,500 to $374,900. At the end of December, the number of new homes for sale totaled 237,000 and represented a supply of 5.2 months at the current sales rate.
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In December, 53% of the estimated 38,000 monthly sales were for homes priced at less than $300,000. The percentage is four points higher than the November rate. Sales of homes priced between $300,000 and $399,999 slipped by one point to 19% of all sales. Sales of homes in the range of $400,000 to $499,999 fell from 15% of all sales to 14%, and sales rose from 8% to 10% for homes sold in a range of $500,000 to $749,999. Home sales for properties priced above $750,000 fell by three percentage points and accounted for 3% of all new home sales in December.
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