Sales of new single-family houses jumped another 13.9% in July, according to estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
According to the data, new-home sales were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 901,000 last month, an increase from the revised June rate of 791,000. Year over year, July’s sales were 36.3% higher than the July 2019 estimate of 661,000.
“At 901,000 annualized units, July’s pace of sales was the fastest since December 2006,” says Doug Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae. “The July housing starts report and the recent surge in the NAHB's Housing Market Index had previously indicated that new sales would likely surpass our August forecast, in which we had predicted some cooling off in sales over the third quarter. However, today’s report exceeded even those upwardly revised expectations.”
The median sales price of new houses sold in July was $330,600, up slightly from $329,200 in June, and the average sales price was $391,300, also up from $384,700.
Plus, the seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of July was 299,000, representing a four-month supply at the current sales rate.
“Low mortgage rates, pent-up demand, and what appears to be an increase in home buyers moving to suburban areas in at least some metro areas is fueling a V-shaped housing recovery,” continues Duncan. “While we expect new-home sales and construction to continue to be a bright spot as the economy expands, we still expect the pace of sales to cool somewhat in coming months.”
