After decreasing 7.6% in August, new home sales in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 593,000, an increase of 3.1% compared with the revised rate of 575,000 in August and an increase of 29.8% compared with 457,000 in September 2015, according to estimates released jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The median sales price of a new home sold in September was $313,500; the average sales price was $377,700.
As of the end of the month, there were about 235,000 new homes available for sale in the U.S., about a 4.8-month supply at the current sales rate.
“New home sales have been trending upward all year, and this gradual increase is in line with other positive signals, including rising single-family starts and solid builder sentiment,” says Ed Brady, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) in a statement.
“Low mortgage rates, continued job growth and tight inventory levels are all factors that point to increased housing production as we move into 2017,” adds Robert Dietz, chief economist for NAHB.
Regionally, new home sales increased 33.3% in the Northeast, 8.6% in the Midwest and 3.4% in the South. Sales fell 4.5% in the West.
Interestingly, most of the rebound in September was in the Northeast: In August, new homes sales in the Northeast decreased by 34.3%.