New Home Sales at 5 Month Low, Backlog Easing

The sales of new single-family houses fell slightly in Julyrnto a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 298,000.  The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department ofrnHousing and Urban Development issued the estimated figure on Tuesday and at thernsame time revised the June new-home sale rate down to 300,000 from the earlierrnestimate of 312,000.  The July figure isrna decrease of 0.7 percent from the new June number but is 6.8 percent above thernJuly 2010 estimate of 279,000 new homes sold.</p

There were an estimated 165,000 newly constructed homes forrnsale in the U.S. at the end of July which represents a 6.6 month supply at therncurrent pace of sales.  These figures arernvirtually unchanged from June but are a significant improvement over one yearrnearlier when there were 210,000 homes on the market, a 9.0 month supply.  The median marketing period of a home soldrnduring July was 9.4 months compared to 11.2 months in July 2010.</p

The median sales price of new homes sold in July wasrn$222,000 and the average price was $272,300. rnOne year ago the median and average sales prices were $212,100 andrn$252,100 respectively.</p

On a regional basis, the Northeast was the sole bright spotrnwith sales actually doubling from 14,000 in June to 28,000 in July.  This was, however, 3.4 percent fewer housesrnthan sold during the same period one year earlier.  Sales in the Midwest increased 2.4 percent torn43,000, the same number as sold in July 2010. rnSales were down 7.4 percent from the June level to 163,000 in the South,rnagain identical to the number sold one year earlier.  There were 64,000 homes sold in the West,rndown from 68,000 in June but a 45.5 percent improvement year-over-year.</p

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