New Home Sales Up Dramatically

Nov 27, 2017

Three new data reports on the state of the national housing environment offers a startling consideration of how far housing has moved in the last decade

Sales of new single-family houses October 2017 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 685,000, according to estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Last month’s sales were 6.2 percent above the revised September rate of 645,000 and is 18.7 percent above the October 2016 estimate of 577,000. This is the strongest pace for sales in a decade.

The median sales price of new houses sold in October was $312,800, while the average sales price was $400,200. This is the first time the median sales price was higher than $400,000. The seasonally-adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of October was 282,000, which represents a supply of 4.9 months at the current sales rate.

October marked the third consecutive month of increases in new single-family houses, and the latest data caught many by surprise. Economists polled by Reuters forecasted a six percent decline in overall home sales.

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Phil Hall

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Nov 27, 2017

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