Housing

June New Home Sales Slide, May Sales Revised Down as Well

Paul Ausick

Published: July 25, 2018 11:25 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 8:26 pm

The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Monday morning that sales of new homes in June slipped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 631,000, a decrease of 5.3% from the revised May rate of 666,000 and an increase of 2.4% compared with the June 2017 rate of 616,000. The consensus estimate from a survey of economists expected a rate of around 668,000. The May rate was revised downward by 23,000.

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 June fell by $10,900 from $313,000 in April to $302,100, and the average sales price fell by $3,200 to $363,300. At the end of June, the number of new homes for sale totaled 301,000, up by 1,100 month over month, and represented a supply of 5.7 months at the current sales rate.

In June, 50% of the estimated 57,000 monthly total was sales for homes priced at less than $300,000. The percentage is up from 46% in May.

Sales of homes priced between $300,000 and $399,999 dipped two points to 22% of all sales. Sales of homes in the range of $400,000 to $499,999 also slipped two points to 10%, and sales rose were up 2% for homes sold in a range of $500,000 to $749,999. Home sales for properties priced above $750,000 accounted for 5% of all new home sales in June, down one point compared with May.

In the South, home sales fell by 30,000 month over month in June to 361,000. Home sales slipped in the Midwest from 82,000 in May to 71,000 in June.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, year-over-year new home sales are up 2.4% nationally. In the South, new home sales are up 8.1%; in the Northeast, sales are up 20.9%; in the Midwest, sales are up 8.1%; and in the West, sales are down 15.0%.

At the end of May, the for-sale inventory totaled 301,000, up 4,000 month over month. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, inventory rose by 1,000 in the Northeast to 24,000 and by 1,000 in the Midwest to 41,000. In the South new homes for sale rose by 4,000 to 158,000 while supply in the West rose by 1,000 to 79,000.