New Single-Family Home Sales Rose by 5.7% in August

The Census Bureau noted that new home sales in August came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 552,000, which was far above the consensus estimate of 515,000. That followed an even bigger 12 per cent jump in July, according to the government’s revised figures.

“After four months of declines in the three-month average of new home sales during the spring and early summer, August became the second month in a row with a positive trend”, IHS said.

The limited supply of new homes is also pushing up prices. Trailing all the regions is the West; however, sales growth there was still strong at an annual change of 11.0%.

As of the end of August, there were about 216,000 new homes for sale in the USA – about a 4.7-month supply at the current sales rate.

Still, observers including Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen say housing still has a way to go to recover from the meltdown after the bubble burst in 2008.

The median sales price of new houses sold in August was $292,700, up $1,600 from July and considerably higher than the median existing home price of $228,700.