New home sales in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 697,000, down 2.5% compared with May but up 23.8% compared with June 2022, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Regionally, on a year-to-date basis, new home sales were up 4.7% in the Northeast and 3.2% in the South but down 7.6% in the Midwest and 16.5% in the West.
The median sales price of a new home sold in June was $415,400. The average sales price was $494,700.
As of the end of the month, there were about 432,000 new homes available for sale, about a 7.4-month supply at the current sales rate.
“Rising mortgage rates in June, coupled with elevated construction costs and supply chain issues for electrical transformers, acted as headwinds on the new home sales market,” says Alicia Huey, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), in a statement.
“Demand for new homes cooled in June primarily due to a more than quarter-point rise in mortgage rates over the previous month,” adds Danushka Nanayakkara-Skillington, assistant vice president for forecasting and analysis for NAHB. “However, the lack of existing inventory and the Federal Reserve nearing the end of its rate hikes signal that demand for new homes may rise in the coming quarters.”
Photo: Todd Kent