The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Tuesday morning that sales of new homes in May rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 546,000, an increase of 2.2% from the upwardly revised April rate of 534,000 and a whopping increase of 19.5% compared with the May 2014 rate of 457,000. The consensus estimate from a survey of economists expected a rate of around 525,000.
The revision to the April rate added 17,000 to the month’s total, making the May jump even more impressive.
At the peak in 2005, new home sales posted a seasonally adjusted annual rate of nearly 1.4 million.
The Census Bureau also reported that the median sales price for new homes sold in May rose to $282,800 and the average sales price was $377,000. At the end of May, the number of new homes for sale represented a supply of 4.5 months at the current sales rate.
In May, 54% of the estimated 51,000 monthly sales were for homes priced at less than $300,000. That represents a one-point drop compared with April sales. The big difference came in homes sold for between $300,000 and $399,999, which rose from 21% of April sales to 24% of May sales. Sales of homes in the range of $400,000 to $499,999 slipped from 12% to 10%, and they slipped from 10% to 7% for homes sold in a range of $500,000 to $749,999. Sales of homes priced above $750,000 gained a point in May to 4% of all homes sold in the month.
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