New home sales in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 667,000, an increase of 8.9% compared with a revised rate of about 561,000 in August and an increase of 17.0% compared with about 570,000 in September 2016, according to estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The median sales price of new single-family homes sold in September was $319,700. The average sales price was $385,200.
As of the end of the month, there were about 279,000 new homes for sale nationwide, a 5.0-month supply at the current sales rate.
Sales were up 33.3% in the Northeast, 25.8% in the South, 10.6% in the Midwest and 2.9% in the West compared with August.
According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), September’s new home sales rate is the highest since October 2007.
“The September sales numbers show that there is solid, growing demand for new home construction,” says Granger MacDonald, chairman of NAHB, in a statement. “However, builders need to continue to monitor rising construction costs to keep houses affordably priced.”
“New home sales have bounced back from a few soft months and have returned to the strong growth trend we saw earlier this year,” adds Robert Dietz, chief economist for NAHB. “As existing home inventory remains tight, we can expect new homes sales to continue to make gains in the months ahead.”