New-Home Sales Improve Slightly in June

RISMEDIA, Thursday, July 27, 2017— New-home sales improved in June, with sales of new, single-family homes eking up 0.8 percent to 610,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The average new-home sales price was $379,500, while the median was $310,800. New-home listing inventory was 272,000—5.4 months supply.

"Although we saw modest gains this month, new-home sales have risen nearly 11 percent since the start of 2017," said Granger MacDonald, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), in an NAHB Now update. "Our members remain optimistic as the single-family housing market continues to recover."

"We saw new-home sales edge up a slight 0.8 percent in June solely because last month's figure was revised downward, but this still reflects a recent increase in new construction resulting in new-home sales up 9.1 percent over the past year," says Joseph Kirchner, senior economist for realtor.com®. "While that's not enough to ease the shortage, there is some good news when it comes to new-home prices. Median sales prices dropped to $310,800 from $324,300 in May, though that's still 3.4 percent above the same time last year. Builders have been focusing on more expensive homes, but the increase in low- to moderately-priced new-homes on the market will help millennials, first-time and moderate- to low-income homebuyers."

"Both of June's numbers aren't statistically significant, so we should take them with a grain of salt," wrote Ralph McLaughlin, chief economist at Trulia, in a Trulia Trends blog. "A less volatile number to look at is the 12-month rolling total, which is up 14.1 percent year-over-year. This represents the most since June 2008—a nine-year high."

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

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