U.S New Home Sales Surge To 19-Month High In September

After reporting a steep drop in new home sales in the U.S. in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Wednesday showing new home sales rebounded by much more than expected in the month of September.

The Commerce Department said new home sales soared by 12.3 percent to an annual rate of 759,000 in September after plunging by 8.2 percent to a revised rate of 676,000 in August.

Economists had expected new home sales to climb by 0.7 percent to an annual rate of 680,000 from the 675,000 originally reported for the previous month.

With the much bigger than expected increase, new home sales reached their highest annual rate since hitting 773,000 in February 2022.

The report said new home sales in the Northeast helped lead the rebound, skyrocketing by 22.5 percent to an annual rate of 49,000.

New home sales in the South also spiked by 14.6 percent to a rate of 456,000, while new home sales in the West surged by 7.5 percent to a rate of 187,000 and new home sales in the Midwest jumped by 4.7 percent to a rate of 67,000.

The Commerce Department also said the median sales price of new houses sold in September was $418,800, down 3.3 percent from $433,100 in August and down 12.3 percent from $477,700 a year ago.

The estimate of new houses for sale at the end of September was 435,000, which represents 6.9 months of supply at the current sales rate. The months of supply is down from 7.7 months in August and 9.7 months in September 2022.

“The Fed will see the September new home sales release as supporting holding rates steady at their decision next Wednesday,” said Bill Adams, Chief Economist for Comerica Bank. “The year-over-year decline in median sale prices will contribute to slower inflation in 2024.”

Last Thursday, a separate report released by the National Association of Realtors on showed a notable decrease in U.S. existing home sales in the month of September.

NAR said existing home sales tumbled by 2.0 percent to an annual rate of 3.96 million in September after sliding by 0.7 percent to an annual rate of 4.04 million in August. Economists had expected existing home sale to drop to an annual rate of 3.89 million.

Existing home sales decreased for the fourth consecutive month, falling to their lowest level since October 2010.

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