Purchases of new homes took a 7.6 percent tumble in August
WASHINGTON — Sales of new homes retreated in August, one month after surging to the highest level in nearly nine years. Activity fell in all regions of the country except the West.
New home sales dropped 7.6 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 609,000 units, the Commerce Department reported Monday. That followed a surge in sales in July when they jumped 13.8 percent to a rate of 659,000, the fastest pace since October 2007.
Sales had been expected to slow following the July surge.
Even with the August decline, sales of new homes are up a solid 20.1 percent from a year earlier. Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, pointed to a number of positive factors in the housing market.
“Homebuilder confidence is up and price growth has slowed, which is good news for first-time homebuyers, as are easing credit standards and low mortgage rates,” she wrote in a research note.
The median price of a new home sold in August was $284,000, down 3.1 percent from July and 5.3 percent from a year ago.
One problem weighing on the industry is a lack of available homes for sale, both in the new and existing home categories. Sales of existing homes slipped 0.9 percent in August to an annual rate of 5.33 million.