New Homes Sales Continue to Fall, Down 2.5% in May

After five months of declines in the pace of new home sales, April's uptick appears to have been temporary as new home sales in the U.S. continued to fall back 2.5% down in May, declining to 512k, in line with expectations from economists.

This follows an upwardly revised reading of 525k in April.

The median sale price of new houses sold in May was $231,100, down substantially from April's revised median of $243,500.

The overhang of supply increased to a 10.9-month supply.

Regionally, the results were mixed, with the biggest increase occurring in the West, where sales moved down to 114,000, from 129,000 in April. In the Northeast, sales were down to 35,000, from 38,000 in the prior month.

In the Midwest, sales were up to 82,000 from 78,000 in the prior report, while in the South, sales increased to 281,000 from 280,000 a month earlier and in the West.

Last week, the NAHB/Wells Fargo survey of builder confidence fell another point to 18, matching the record low the 22-year index reached in December 2007.

By Patrick McGee and Stephen Huebl and edited by Cristina Markham