New home sales dropped significantly in December, but still saw an increase for the year, according to the new report from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Sales of new single-family houses dropped 10.4% to 536,000 in December, down from November’s 598,000 sales. However, the annual drop was significantly lower at 0.4% below the 538,000 sales in December 2015.
source: tradingeconomics.com
The decrease is not surprising, however, considering the drop in existing home sales which came out earlier this week.
The median sales price of new homes sold increased to $322,500, up from November’s $305,400. The average sales price also increased significantly from the previous month, up from $359,900 to $384,000.
The seasonally adjusted estimate of new homes for sale by the end of the month increased to 259,000 in December. This represents a supply of 5.8 months at the current sales rate, and is up from November’s supply of 5.1 months.
Overall, however, 2016 performed better than the year before, hitting 563,000 new home sales. This is an increase of 12.2% from the 501,000 sales in 2015.
