24/7 Wall St.

The U.S. Census Bureau this morning released data on new single-family home sales for November. Sales rose 4.4% month-over-month, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 377,000, the highest point since April 2010. Economists had been expecting a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 375,000. The November number is 4.4% higher than the revised total of 361,000 for October and 15.3% above the rate for November 2011. 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 November was $246,200, about 3.5% above the October median, and the average sales price was $299,700, up about 7.5%. In October, the median sales price for a new house was $237,700 and the average sales price was $278,900.

At the end of November, the number of new homes for sale totaled 149,000, a supply of 4.7 months, up slightly from an inventory totaling 147,000 at the end of October.

Paul Ausick