The U.S. Census Bureau Tuesday morning released data on new single-family home sales for December. Sales jumped 11.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 481,000 from a downwardly revised November sales figure of 431,000. The consensus estimate for December called for sales of 452,000. November sales were revised downward by 14,000.

Year over year, December’s seasonally adjusted annual sales rate rose 8.8%, compared with 442,000 a year ago. On an unadjusted basis, 2014 sales totaled an estimated 435,000 homes, up 1.2% from 429,000 in 2013 and the highest total since 2008.

At the peak in 2005, new home sales posted a seasonally adjusted annual rate of nearly 1.4 million.

The Census Bureau also reported a $268,100 median sales price for new homes sold in December, up from $280,900 in November, and the average sales price rose from $321,800 to $377,800. As of the end of December, the number of new homes for sale rose from 213,000 in November to 219,000, a supply of 5.5 months at the current sales rate.

In December, 50% of the estimated 34,000 monthly sales were for homes priced at less than $300,000. The rise in December’s median and average sales prices is due to more sales of more expensive homes, including a jump of six points in homes sold in the range of $300,000 to $399,999. Sales of homes priced above $750,000 rose four points in December to 8% of all homes.

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