New Homes Sales Recover Some of March Losses

New home sales beat most analyst expectations in April, rising 6.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 517,000 units and posting a 26.1 percent gain over the annual pace of 410,000 units in March 2014.  Despite the increase, April sales did not erase the 11.4 percent drop in new home sales reported in March although those sales were revised up from 481,000 to 484,000.  The consensus expectation from Econoday for April sales was 509,000 units.

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis sales of new homes nationwide were estimated at 49,000 units.  More than half of sales (26,000) were in the South.

The median price of a new home sold during the month was $297,300 compared to $274,500 in April 2014.  The average sales price was $341,500, up from $325,100 one year earlier.

At the end of the reporting period there were a seasonally adjusted estimate of 205,000 newly constructed homes available for sale.  At the current rate of sale this would be a 4.8 month supply compared to 5.1 months in March and a 5.6 month supply in April 2014.

Sales of new homes in the Northeast were down 5.6 percent from March and 0ff 19.0 percent from a year earlier.  Sales surged in the Midwest, up 36.8 percent for the month and 20.0 percent higher than in April 2014.  The South saw a month over month increase of 5.8 percent and year-over-year of 26.4 percent. The West fell back by 2.3 percent from March but sales were 39.8 percent higher than a year earlier.