WASHINGTON — Sales of new single-family homes rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 313,000 in September, a 5.7% gain above the revised August rate of 296,000, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
The September rate was the first increase after four months of decreases and was above the 300,000 estimated annual rate from economists polled by Thomson Reuters. The August rate was slightly above the 295,000 median rate they projected.
The annual rate for July was revised to 297,000.
New home sales showed gains in two of the four regions. They increased the most in the South, by 11.2% to 179,000, and were up 9.7% to 68,000 in the West. Sales fell 12.2% to 43,000 in the Midwest and dropped 4.2% to 23,000 in the Northeast.
The median sales price for new homes sold in September was $204,000, while the average sales price was $243,900.
The seasonally adjusted estimate of the number of new houses for sale at the end of September was 163,000, representing a supply of 6.2 months at the current sales rate, a decrease from the 6.6-month supply reported last month.
