WASHINGTON – The pace of new single-family home sales rose to a stronger-than-expected 610,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate in May, following upward revisions to the sales pace in the previous three months, data released by the Commerce Department Friday showed.
The sales pace was expected to rebound to 590,000, based on an MNI survey of economists.
The supply of new homes for sale rose by 1.5% to 268,000 in May, the highest level since July 2009. Housing starts have declined in the each of the last three months, so home supply growth may pause in the coming months. Based on the movements in sales and supply in May, the months supply held steady at 5.3 months, and was up modestly from 5.2 months a year ago.
Even with the increase in supply, the median sales price of new homes surged by 11.5% to a record $345,800 in May and was up 16.8% from May 2016, confirming concerns that tight supply in some areas was driving up prices.
Sales were up 13.3% in the large South regions and 13.3% in the West region, but declined by 10.8% in the Northeast and 25.7% in the Midwest, both relatively small regions.
New home sales in April were revised up to a 593,000 rate from the 569,000 rate previously reported, while March sales were revised up slightly to a 644,000 rate from the 642,000 pace previously reported. February sales were revised up to 615,000 from the previously reported 607,000 rate.
The April-May average sales pace of 602,000 was still behind the 619,000 average pace in the first quarter after revisions were included, owing to the recent cyclical high of 644,000 in March.
