New home sales numbers are known to be volatile on a month-to-month basis. They're also frequently revised. That's certainly the case with the latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Their latest New Residential Sales report shows the previous three months' sales numbers were revised higher after their initial release.
That means sales were better than reported. It also means the market for newly built single-family homes is on good footing and should see further gains as mortgage rates continue to improve. And while the month-over-month data shows sales down 4.7 percent in August from July, a look at the numbers from last year shows sales were almost 10 percent higher than August 2023. Additionally, the median price of new homes has fallen 4.6 percent over the past 12 months.
[Source: Reuters]
