September 27, 2012 (Chris Moore)
New single-family home sales fell slightly during August after July’s robust 3.5 percent increase according to the latest housing data released by the Census Bureau. So far this year new homes sales have improved four months, declined for three months, and have remained unchanged for one month.
Sales of new single-family homes fell 0.3 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted rate of 373,000, down from a sales rate of 374,000 in July. On an unadjusted basis, new home sales fell 8.8 percent from the previous month.
The rate of sales in August was 27.7 percent higher than the estimated sales rate of 292,000 units in August of 2011. Sales were also 20.0 percent higher than in August of last year on an unadjusted basis. Through the end of August, new home sales are 21.9 percent higher than at the same time last year.
The median sales price of the new homes sold in August was $256,900, which was up from a revised $231,100 in July. The average sales price for a new home in August was $295,300, up from a revised $270,600 in July.
Sixty-five percent of the new single-family homes sold in August were under $300,000, down from 71 percent in July.
In August of last year, the median sales price of a new home was14.5 percent lower at $219,600, while the average sales price was 12.2 percent higher at $259,300.
Three of the four national regions posted increases in seasonally adjusted monthly sales led by a 20.0 percent gain in the Northeast, followed by gains of 1.8 and 0.9 percent, respectively, in the Midwest and the West.
The South reported the only decline in sales, falling 4.9 percent from the previous month.
Compared to a year ago, all four of the regions showed improvement with the West posting the largest increase of 64.6 percent followed by the Northeast at 56.5 percent while the Midwest and the South reported increases of 16.7 and 11.5 percent, respectively.
Inventory of new single-family homes fell to a seasonally adjusted 141,000 homes available for sale, which translates into a 4.5 months supply of inventory, unchanged from the previous month.
Tags: Census Bureau, new home sales, single-family homes, median sales price, average sales price
Source:
Census Bureau
