New Home Sales Backing Down From Recent Highs

New home sales failed to build on their September momentum, although the October downturn was not a large one. The Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development said today that sales of newly constructed homes in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 563,000 units, 1.9 percent less than in September but 17.8 percent higher than in October 2015.  

September sales appeared to have marked a strong comeback from a particularly week August but, while still an improvement on that month, have now been revised downward from 593,000 to 574,000 units.

Analysts polled by Econoday were expecting sales to come in at a rate in the range of 580,000 to 620,000 with a consensus of 590,000.

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis there were an estimated 45,000 homes sold during the month, the same number as in September. 

The median price of a new home sold during the month was $304,500 and the average sales price was $354,900.  In October, 2015 the relative prices were $298,700 and $366,900.

At the end of the reporting period there were an approximately 246,000 new homes available for sale, an estimated supply of 5.2 months at the current rate of sale.  Homes sold during October were on the market a median of 3.0 months and about 80 percent were sold before construction was complete.

New home sales in the Northeast region were at a rate 9.1 percent lower than in September and 6.1 percent below that of a year earlier.  The Midwest saw sales down 13.7 percent month-over-month but up by 8.6 percent on an annual basis.  In the South sales edged down by 3.0 percent in October but remained 17.9 percent higher than in October 2015, and the West had strong gains for both the month and the year of 8.8 percent and 18.7 percent respectively.