WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A report released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday showed a substantial pullback by new home sales in the U.S. in the month of October.
The Commerce Department said new home sales saw a 17.3 percent nosedive to an annual rate of 610,000 in October after spiking by 7.0 percent to a rate of 738,000 in September. Economists had expected new home sales to decrease by 1.1 percent to a rate of 730,000.
New home sales pulled back well off their highest level in over a year, plunging to their lowest level since hitting an annual rate of 596,000 in November 2023.
New home sales in the South led the way lower, plummeting by 22.7 percent to an annual rate of 339,000. New home sales in the West also dove by 9.0 percent to an annual rate of 152,000.
Meanwhile, new home sales in the Northeast skyrocketed by 53.3 percent to an annual rate of 46,000, and new home sales in the Midwest jumped by 1.4 percent to an annual rate of 73,000.
The report also said the median sales price of new houses sold in October was $437,300, up 2.5 percent from $426,800 in September and up 4.7 percent from $417,500 in the same month a year ago.
The estimate of new houses for sale at the end of October was 481,000, which represents 9.5 months of supply at the current sales rate. The months of supply are up from 7.7 in September and 7.9 a year ago.
Last Thursday, the National Association of Realtors released a separate report showing existing home sales in the U.S. rebounded by more than expected in the month of October.
The report said existing home sales surged by 3.4 percent to an annual rate of 3.96 million in October after slumping by 1.3 percent to a revised rate of 3.83 million in September.
Economists had expected existing home sales to jump by 2.3 percent to a rate of 3.93 million from the 3.84 million originally reported for the previous month.
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