Financial News: U.S. New Home Sales Slump In December After

U.S. New Home Sales Slump In December After Soaring November

02/20/2026 - 10:47:00 (RTTNews)

(RTTNews) - New home sales in the U.S. saw a notable pullback in the month of December after skyrocketing in the month of November, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Friday.

The report said new home sales slumped by 1.7 percent to an annual rate of 745,000 in December after soaring by 15.5 percent to an annual rate of 758,000 in November.

Economists had expected new home sales to come in at annual rates of 735,000 in November and 728,000 in December.

The sharp increase in November from a downwardly revised rate of 656,000 in October lifted new home sales to their highest level since February 2022.

The Commerce Department said an estimated 679,000 new homes were sold in 2025, down 1.1 percent from 686,000 in 2024.

The monthly pullback by new home sales in December partly reflected significant weakness in the Northeast, where new home sales plummeted by 37.3 percent.

New home sales in the South also tumbled by 6.7 percent, while new home sales in the West surged by 9.0 percent and new home sales in the Midwest spiked by 31.7 percent.

The report also said the estimate of new houses for sale at the end of December was 472,000, down 2.7 percent from 485,000 in November and down 3.5 percent from 489,000 a year ago.

The estimate of new houses for sale represents 7.6 months of supply at the current sales rate, down from 7.7 months in November and 8.2 months in December 2024.

Meanwhile, the median sales price of new houses sold in December was $414,400, up 4.2 percent from $397,600 in November but down 2.0 percent from $423,000 a year ago.

A separate report released by the National Association of Realtors on Thursday show pending home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly saw further downside in the month of January.

NAR said its pending home sales index slid by 0.8 percent to 70.9 in January after plunging by 7.4 percent to a revised 71.5 in December.

Economists had expected pending home sales to jump by 2.5 percent compared to the 9.3 percent nosedive originally reported for the previous month.

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