New home sales in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 694,000, down 0.4% compared with a revised 697,000 in November but up 23.0% compared with 564,000 in December 2018, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
About 681,000 new homes were sold in 2019, an increase 10.3% compared with about 617,000 in 2018, according to the agencies’ data.
The median sales price of a new home sold in December was $331,400.
The average sales price was $384,500.
As of the end of December there were about 327,000 new homes available for sale. That’s about a 5.7-month supply at the current sales rate.
“High levels of home builder confidence, coupled with an insufficient existing housing supply to meet current demand, suggest growth ahead for new home sales this year,” says Dean Mon, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), in a statement.
“Despite the slow start for housing in 2019, lower mortgage interest rates accelerated new home sales during the second half of the year, marking it as the best year for new home sales since the recession,” adds Robert Dietz, chief economist for NAHB.