New Home Sales Dip 9% in January
The Census Bureau reported that the median sales price for new homes sold in January fell by more than $10,000 and the average sales price slipped by almost as much.
The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Wednesday morning that sales of new homes in January fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 494,000, a decrease of 9.2% from the December rate of 544,000 and a decrease of 5.2% compared with the January 2015 rate of 521,000. The consensus estimate from a survey of economists expected a rate of around 520,000.
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 January fell by more than $10,000 from $288,900 in December to $278,800, and the average sales price slipped by $9,200 to $365,700. At the end of January, the number of new homes for sale totaled 238,000 and represented a supply of 5.8 months at the current sales rate.
[nativounit]
In January, 57% of the estimated 37,000 monthly sales were for homes priced at less than $300,000. The percentage is four points higher than the December rate. Sales of homes priced between $300,000 and $399,999 slipped by one point to 18% of all sales. Sales of homes in the range of $400,000 to $499,999 fell from 14% of all sales to 13%, and sales fell from 10% to 8% for homes sold in a range of $500,000 to $749,999. Home sales for properties priced above $750,000 rose by a percentage point and accounted for 6% of all new home sales in January.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.
He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.
