Sales of new single-family houses in October 2017 rose a robust 6.2% from September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 685,000, the highest rate in ten years, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The gain put October 2017 18.7% ahead of the same month last year.
The median sales price of new houses sold in October 2017 was $312,800, down from $324,900 in September but up from $302,800 a year earlier. The average sales price was $400,200, up from September’s $381,100 and from last October’s $352,200.
The seasonally-adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of October was 282,000, a supply of 4.9 months at the current sales rate.
Sequential gains in the Northeast topped all other regions at 30.2% to a rate of 56,000. The Midwest also posted a strong sequential gain of 17.9% to a rate of 79,000. The South ticked up 1.3% to 383,000. The West gained 6.4% to 167,000. Year over year, the Northeast gained 64.7%, the Midwest 16.2%, the South 14% and the West 20.1%.
