Following a surge during February, national new home sales slowed down last month. Sales in the Northeast took the biggest beating.
The sale of new single-family homes came in at
a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 481,000 during the month of March.
That was a drop from the previous month, when the rate was 543,000 — the highest level in seven years. February’s annual rate was originally reported at
539,000.
The data was reported Thursday by the Census Bureau.
But last
month’s new home sales were a vast improvement over the the 403,000 annual rate in March 2014. The year-earlier figure was revised up from 384,000 originally reported.
Sales slumped by a third in the Northeast, the worst of any region compared to February.
But in the Midwest, the only region to see a gain, sales were up 5.9 percent.
The report indicated that the median sales price of homes worked out to $277,400 in March 2015, while the average sales price was $343,300.
As of the end of last month, the
seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale was 213,000.
That worked out to a 5.3-month supply.
