More than seven years have passed since the rate of new home sales was as good as it was last month. The rate soared in the Northeast.
The seasonally adjusted
annual rate of new single-family home sales during the month of May worked out to 546,000.
Turns out that new home sales activity
was last this high in February 2008, when the rate was 593,000.
That is based on historical data from the Census Bureau, which reports the sale figures monthly.
The rate climbed from April, when it came in at 534,000. The month-earlier number was revised up from 517,000 originally reported.
Sales were 20 percent stronger than in May 2014.
Leading the month-over-month acceleration were sales in the Northeast, where there was a stunning 88 percent month-over-month gain.
Still, May’s 30,000 rate in the Northeast was just a fraction of the 312,000 rate in the South, where sales were down four percent.
The pace was up 13 percent in the West, and a six percent drop was recorded for the Midwest.
Without any seasonal adjustments, U.S. sales were unchanged from a month earlier at 51,000 but more than the 43,000 a year earlier.
Last month finished with 206,000 U.S. properties for sale,
the same as at the end of April. At the same point in 2014, there were 194,000 new homes for sale.
It would take just 4.5 months to clear out the current inventory at the current sales pace. The rate sped up from 4.6 months in the last report and 5.1 in the year-earlier report.
New home buyers paid an average sales price of $337,000 in May 2015, while the median price was $282,800.
