Newly constructed residential properties sold last month at an annual rate that was better than both one month earlier and one year earlier. The West led.
New single-family home sales numbered 55,000
during June, a minor decline of 2,000 units compared to the downwardly revised level for the preceding month.
Still, new residential home sales
moved up by five thousand units versus the downwardly revised level for the same month during the preceding year.
Historical data from the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which jointly reported last month’s numbers on Wednesday, indicate that for all six months of 2017 which have elapsed, there have been
324,000 U.S. homes sold.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the annual rate of new home sales was 610,000 in June 2017, up nearly a percent from the last report and a more than 9 percent increase from the same month a year ago.
“Although we saw modest gains this month, new home sales have risen nearly 11 percent since the start of 2017,” National Association of Home Builders Chairman Granger MacDonald said in the report. “Our members remain optimistic as the single-family housing market continues to recover.”
NAHB Senior Economist Michael Neal noted that sales were consistent with his organization’s forecast which calls for further gains this year due to a strengthening labor market. He stressed that inventory remains tight as builders still face a lack of lots, labor shortages and rising building material costs.
The month-over-month increase was led by the West, where sales soared 13 percent from May to 180,000. A 10 percent increase put the Midwest’s rate at 66,000.
No month-over-month change was recorded
for the Northeast, where the most-recent rate was 41,000.
Only the South suffered a decline from a month earlier: 6 percent to a rate of 323,000.
There were a seasonally adjusted 272,000 U.S. homes for sale at the end of the first half of this year. The worked out to a 5.4-month supply.
Sales prices averaged $379,500 last month, and the median sales price was $310,800.
