Financial News: U.S. New Home Sales Plunge To Three-Year Low

U.S. New Home Sales Plunge To Three-Year Low In January

03/19/2026 - 10:41:00 (RTTNews)

(RTTNews) - A report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday showed a much steeper-than-expected drop in new home sales in the U.S. in the month of January.

The Commerce Department said new home sales plunged by 17.6 percent to an annual rate of 587,000 in January after tumbling by 6.8 percent to a revised rate of 712,000 in December.

Economists had expected new home sales to slump by 3.4 percent to an annual rate of 720,000 from the 745,000 originally reported for the previous month.

With the extended nosedive, new home sales plummeted to their lowest annual rate since hitting 579,000 in October 2022.

The report showed substantial weakness in the Northeast and Midwest, where new home sales dove by 44.7 percent and 33.9 percent, respectively.

New home sales in the Midwest also plunged by 21.6 percent, while new home sales in the South tumbled by 8.1 percent.

The Commerce Department also said the estimate of new houses for sale at the end of January was 476,000, up 0.4 percent from 474,000 in December but down 4.0 percent from 496,000 a year ago.

The estimate of new houses for sale represents 9.7 months of supply at the current sales rate, up from 8.0 months in December and 9.0 months in January 2025.

Meanwhile, the median sales price of new houses sold in January was $400,500, down 4.5 percent from $419,200 in December and down 6.8 percent from $429,600 a year ago.

A separate report released by the National Association of Realtors on Tuesday unexpectedly showed a significant rebound by pending home sales in the U.S. in the month of February.

NAR said its pending home sales index jumped by 1.8 percent to 72.1 in February after tumbling by 1 percent to a revised 70.8 in January. Economists had expected pending home sales to slump by another 1 percent.

A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale.

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