New Home Sales Hit Recovery High

New single-family home sales jumped 8.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 497,000 for June, according to a Commerce Department report (link opens a PDF) released today. After edging up a revised 1.3% for May, this latest report puts new home sales at a new recovery high. Analysts had expected a slightly positive push to 481,000 from May's unrevised 476,000 rate, but their estimate proved off by 4.4%.

Source: Census.gov.

On a regional level, Northeast sales made the largest month-to-month gain (18.5%), while the Midwest was the only area to head into the red (-11.8%). In the past 12 months, national sales of new homes have increased 38.1%.

While housing supply remained steady for the past three months, June's report shows signs of an inventory draw. At the current rate of sales, there is an estimated 3.9 months of supply, compared with 4.2 months in May. But even as sales increased and supply dropped for June, the median price of a new home fell for the second straight month, down $13,100 to $249,700.

The article New Home Sales Hit Recovery High originally appeared on Fool.com.

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