The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Wednesday morning that sales of new homes in January fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 494,000, a decrease of 9.2% from the December rate of 544,000 and a decrease of 5.2% compared with the January 2015 rate of 521,000. The consensus estimate from a survey of economists expected a rate of around 520,000.
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 January fell by more than $10,000 from $288,900 in December to $278,800, and the average sales price slipped by $9,200 to $365,700. At the end of January, the number of new homes for sale totaled 238,000 and represented a supply of 5.8 months at the current sales rate.
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In January, 57% of the estimated 37,000 monthly sales were for homes priced at less than $300,000. The percentage is four points higher than the December rate. Sales of homes priced between $300,000 and $399,999 slipped by one point to 18% of all sales. Sales of homes in the range of $400,000 to $499,999 fell from 14% of all sales to 13%, and sales fell from 10% to 8% for homes sold in a range of $500,000 to $749,999. Home sales for properties priced above $750,000 rose by a percentage point and accounted for 6% of all new home sales in January.
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