Aug. New Home Sales Drop 7.6% to 609,000 Annual Rate

WASHINGTON - The pace of new single-family home sales fell back to a still-strong 609,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate in August, giving back only part of a July surge, data released by the Commerce Department Monday showed.

The sales pace was expected to decline to a 590,000 annual rate, based on an MNI survey of economists.

New home sales in July was revised up to a 659,000 rate from the previously reported 654,000 rate. This keeps the July pace the strongest since October 2007. June sales were revised down to a 579,000 rate from the 582,000 rate previously reported, while May sales were revised down to 566,000 from the previously reported 572,000 pace.

Including the August headline data and the revisions, the third quarter average stands at 634,000, well ahead of the 572,000 average in the second quarter. Overall, the data suggest new home sales remain on an upward trend and should continue to support home building.

The August decrease was led by a 34.3% reversal in the Northeast region, which had surged 34.6% in July to account for much of that month's increase. Sales also fell in the Midwest and South regions in August, offset by an 8.0% gain in the West to the strongest pace since September 2007.

On an unadjusted basis, August sales were down 12.3% from July, but still up 22.0% from a year ago.

The supply of new homes for sale rose by 1.7% to 235,000 in August. When combined with the decrease in sales, the months supply rose to a still-lean 4.6 months from 4.2 months in July. The month supply was 5.2 months in August 2015.

The median sales price of new homes fell by 3.1% to $284,000 in August, a second straight decline that could be fueling the strong sales numbers. The median price was down 5.4% from August 2015.

Market News International is a real-time global news service for fixed-income and foreign exchange market professionals. See www.marketnews.com.

Market News International is a real-time global news service for fixed-income and foreign exchange market professionals. See www.marketnews.com.
MORE FROM BOND BUYER