Financial News: U.S. New Home Sales Unexpectedly Decrease To Seven-Month

U.S. New Home Sales Unexpectedly Decrease To Seven-Month Low In June

07/24/2024 - 10:24:00 (RTTNews)

(RTTNews) - The Commerce Department released a report on Wednesday unexpectedly showing a continued decrease by new home sales in the U.S. in the month of June.

The report said new home sales fell by 0.6 percent to an annual rate of 617,000 in June after plummeting by 14.9 percent to a revised rate of 621,000 in May.

Economists had expected new home sales to surge by 3.4 percent to a rate of 640,000 from the 619,000 originally reported for the previous month.

With the unexpected decline, new home sales slumped to their lowest level since hitting an annual rate of 611,000 in November 2023.

The unexpected decrease by new home sales reflected weakness in the Northeast and Midwest, where new home sales plunged by 7.7 percent and 6.9 percent, respectively.

On the other hand, the report said new home sales in the West jumped by 1.4 percent, while new home sales in the South edged up by 0.3 percent.

The Commerce Department also said the median sales price of new houses sold in June was $417,300, up 2.5 percent from $407,100 in May but down 0.1 percent from $417,600 in the same month a year ago.

The estimate of new houses for sale at the end of June was 476,000, which represents 9.3 months of supply at the current sales rate. The months of supply is up from 9.1 in May and 7.7 in June 2023.

On Tuesday, the National Association of Realtors released a separate report showing existing home sales in the U.S. plunged by more than expected in the month of June.

NAR said existing home sales dove by 5.4 percent to an annual rate of 3.89 million in June after falling by 0.7 percent to a rate of 4.11 million in May. Economists had expected existing home sales to slump by 2.9 percent to a rate of 3.99 million.

The bigger than expected decrease pulled existing home sales down to their lowest level since hitting a rate of 3.88 million last December.

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