New home sales were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 635,000 in July, down 12.8% compared with an strongly upwardly revised June rate of 728,000 but up 4.3% compared with about 609,000 in July 2018, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Regionally, new home sales increased 9.5% in the the West and 7.2% in the South. Sales were down 15.4% in the Northeast and 12.4% in the Midwest.
The median sales price of new home sold in July was $312,800.
The average sales price was $388,000.
As of the end of the month there were about 337,000 new home available for sale in the U.S. – about a 6.4-month supply at the current sales rate.
“Builder confidence continues to trend upward as lower interest rates provide for more favorable buying conditions,” says Greg Ugalde, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), in a statement.
“New home sales were sharply revised upward in June to a post-recession high annual rate of 728,000,” adds Robert Dietz, chief economist for NAHB. “While we continue to see volatility in the monthly numbers, sales continue to trend in a slightly positive direction and are in line with our forecast.”