US New Home Sales Rise More than Expected

Sales of new single-family houses in the United States jumped 7.1 percent from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 713 thousand in August 2019, following a revised 8.6 percent slump in July and easily beating market expectations of a 3.5 percent increase.

July’s sales pace was revised higher to 666 thousand units from the previously reported 635 thousand units.

New home sales, which account for about 11.5 percent of housing market sales, were up in the South (6.0 percent to 426 thousand) and West (16.5 percent to 191 thousand), but dropped in the Midwest (-3.0 percent to 64 thousand) and Northeast (-5.9 percent to 32 thousand).

The median new house price rose 2.2 percent from a year earlier to USD 328.4 thousand in August. The average sales price jumped 6.1 percent to USD 404.2 thousand.

The stock of new houses for sale declined 1.2 percent from the previous month to 326 thousand, the lowest since September 2018. At August’s sales pace it would take 5.5 months to clear the supply of houses on the market, down from 5.9 months in July.

Year-on-year, new home sales surged 18.0 percent.

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/new-home-sales