New Home Sales Soar in April

The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Monday morning that sales of new homes in April soared to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 619,000. That was an increase of 16.6% from the revised March rate of 531,000 and an increase of 23.8% compared with the April 2015 rate of 500,000. The consensus estimate from a survey of economists expected a rate of around 523,000. The February rate was revised upward by 12,000.

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 April rose by $19,700 from $288,000 in March to $321,100, and the average sales price rose by $23,600 to $379,800. At the end of April, the number of new homes for sale totaled 243,000 and represented a supply of 4.7 months at the current sales rate.

In April, 44% of the estimated 61,000 monthly sales were sales for homes priced at less than $300,000. The percentage is one point higher than the March rate. Sales of homes priced between $300,000 and $399,999 rose by four points to 25% of all sales. Sales of homes in the range of $400,000 to $499,999 rose fell from 12% of sales to 11%, and sales rose from 10% to 14% for homes sold in a range of $500,000 to $749,999. Home sales for properties priced above $750,000 accounted for 6% of all new home sales in April, up from 4% in March.