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New Home Sales Decreased to 701,000 Annual Rate in September

  • Sales for the previous three months were revised down slightly, combined.
  • Sales were above 700 thousand SAAR in three of the last four months - the best four month stretch since 2007.

October 24,2019 ‐ The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly announced the following new residential sales statistics for September 2019

NEW RESIDENTIAL SALES SEPTEMBER 2019
New Houses Sold1: 701,000
New Houses For Sale: 321,000
Median Sales Price: 299,400

New Home Sales
Sales of new single‐family houses in September 2019 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 701,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 0.7 percent below the revised August rate of 706,000, but is 15.5 percent above the September 2018 estimate of 607,000.

On a non-adjusted basis, there were 54,000 homes sold during the month compared to 57,000 in August. Over the first nine months of this year sales have totaled 527,000 units. This is a 7.2 percent increase over the 491,000 sold over the same period in 2018.

Sales fell in three of the four major regions. The Northeast saw a decline of 2.8 percent compared to August, but sales were up 29.6 percent on an annual basis.  The reverse was true in the Midwest which posted the only August to September gain, 6.3 percent. Sales there are still running 17.3 percent behind those a year earlier.

Sales dipped only fractionally in the South, down 0.2 percent and were 24.0 percent higher than during the prior September. The West had 3.8 percent fewer new home sales than in August, but sales were up 11.5 percent for the year.

Sales Price
The median sales price of new houses sold in September 2019 was $299,400.The average sales price was $362,700.

For Sale Inventory and Months’ Supply
The seasonally-adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of September was 321,000. This represents a supply of 5.5 months at the current sales rate.

The October report is scheduled for release on November 26, 2019.

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