Sales of new single-family houses in July fell 1.7% from June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 627,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The July rate was 12.8% above the July 2017 estimate of 556,000.
Sales were mixed by region. The Northeast, data for which is the most fickle in the survey, led the declines with a 52.3% drop from June and a 48.8% drop from a year earlier. The Midwest was up 9.9% and 18.2% respectively, the South was down 3.3% sequentially but up 17.2% from last July, and the West was up 10.9% and 18.5%, respectively.
The median sales price of new houses sold in July 2018 was $328,700, up from $310,000 in June and $322,900 a year earlier. The average sales price was $394,300, up from $369,500 in June and $372,400 in July 2017.
The seasonally-adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of July was 309,000, a supply of 5.9 months at the current sales rate.
