New Home Sales Dropped in December

Sales of new single-family houses in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 536,000, which is 10.4 percent below the revised November rate of 598,000 and is 0.4 percent below the December 2015 estimate of 538,000, according to estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD).

However, an estimated 563,000 new homes were sold in 2016. This is 12.2 percent above the 2015 level of 501,000.

The median sales price of new houses sold in December was $322,500 and the average sales price was $384,000. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of December was 259,000, which represents a supply of 5.8 months at the current sales rate.