New Home Sales 25% Higher than July 2011, Inventory Continues to Shrink

New home sales rose in July to arnseasonally adjusted annual rate of 372,000 units.  According to a joint release from the U.S.rnCensus Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, thisrnwas an increase of 3.2 percent from sales in June.  The June rate was adjusted upward from thern350,000 originally reported to 359,000 units.  rnJuly sales were 25.3 percent higher than in July 2011 when the rate ofrnsales was estimated at 297,000 units.  </p

There were 142,000 new homes for sale atrnthe end of the reporting period compared to 143,000 in June and 165,000 in Julyrn2011.  This represents an inventory ofrn4.6 months supply at the current pace of sales, down from 4.8 months inrnJune.  Homes for sale have been on thernmarket a median period of 8.7 months since construction was completed.</p

Sales of homes in New England partially recoveredrnfrom a precipitous drop in June when the annual rate fell from 38,000 torn17,000.  Annual sales in the region increasedrn76.5 percent in July to an annual rate of 30,000, 30.4 percent higher than thernrate one year earlier.  Sales in thernMidwest were at the rate of 56,000 units, up 7.7 percent from June and 21.7rnpercent from July 2011.  The pace fell inrnboth the South and West with the rate at 180,000 and 106,000 respectively.  This was a -1.6 percent change from June andrna +9.1 percent change from one year earlier in the South and a decrease of 0.9rnpercent month-over-month and a 68.3 percent annual increase in the West.</p

The median sales price nationally of arnnew single-family home was $224,200 in July compared to 229,900 in July 2011rnand the average price was $263,200, down from 270,300 a year earlier.  </p

New Home Sales</p

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