The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Tuesday morning that sales of new homes in July rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 507,000, an increase of 5.4% from the downwardly revised June rate of 481,000 and an increase of 25.8% compared with the July 2014 rate of 403,000. The consensus estimate from a survey of economists expected a rate of around 516,000.

The revision to the June rate subtracted just 1,000 from the month’s total.

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 July slipped to $285,900 and the average sales price was $361,600. At the end of July, the number of new homes for sale totaled 218,000 and represented a supply of 5.2 months at the current sales rate.

In July, 55% of the estimated 43,000 monthly sales were for homes priced at less than $300,000. That represents a two-point decrease from June sales. Sales of homes priced between $300,000 and $399,999 rose from 18% of all June sales to 20% of July sales. Sales of homes in the range of $400,000 to $499,999 remained flat at 12%, and sales slipped from 8% to 7% for homes sold in a range of $500,000 to $749,999. Home sales for properties priced above $750,000 were up three points month over month, accounting for 6% of all July new home sales.

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