New single-family home sales rebounded somewhat in August, gaining back a little over half of what was lost in July’s surprise drop according to the latest housing data released by the Census Bureau.

Monthly sales of new single-family homes increased 7.9 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted rate of 421,000, up from a revised sales rate of 390,000 in July. On an unadjusted basis, new home sales were up 2.9 percent from the previous month.

July’s sales rate was revised downward from a seasonally adjusted rate of 394,000 sales which added almost a full percentage point more to that month’s decline while adding just over a full percentage point to August’s increase.

The seasonally adjusted rate of sales in August was 12.6 percent higher than the estimated sales rate of 374,000 units in August of 2012. Sales were 12.9 percent higher than in August of last year on an unadjusted basis.

The median sales price of the new homes sold in August was $254,600, which was down slightly from a revised $256,300 in July. The average sales price for a new home in August was $318,900, up from a revised $318,500 in July.

Sixty-three percent of the new single-family homes sold in August were under $300,000, just up slightly from 62 percent in July.

In August of last year, the median sales price of a new home was 0.5 percent lower at $253,200, while the average sales price was 4.2 percent lower at $305,500.

Three of the four national regions posted an increase in seasonally adjusted monthly sales led by a 19.6 percent gain in the Midwest followed by a 15.3 percent increase in the South.

The Northeast reported an increase of 8.8 percent while the West suffered the only decline in sales of 14.6 percent.

Compared to a year ago, three of the four regions also showed an improvement with the South posting the largest increase of 28.2 percent followed by the Northeast at 27.6 percent.

The Midwest posted a gain of 15.1 percent while sales in the West tumbled 21.2 percent from a year ago.

Inventory continued to climb with new single-family homes increasing to a seasonally adjusted 175,000 properties available for sale, up from 169,000 the previous month, which translates into a 5.0 months supply of inventory.

Tags: Census Bureau, new home sales, single-family homes, median sales price, average sales price

Source:
Census Bureau

Reported by Chris Moore