It’s been a decade since the pace of new home sales was as strong as it was last month. The biggest month-over-month increase was in the Northeast.
On a preliminary basis,
sales of new privately owned single-family houses totaled 52,000 units during all of September 2017.
That brought the number of new residential properties sold during the first-nine months of this year to 474,000.
Those numbers and more were jointly reported Wednesday by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Using seasonal adjustments, the annual rate of new home sales last month was
667,000 — the strongest rate since it was 727,000 in October 2007.
The rate was up 19 percent from August 2017 and 17 percent more than September 2016.
National Association of Home Builders Chairman Granger MacDonald said in a written statement that the report demonstrates solid, growing demand for new homes.
“However, builders need to continue to monitor rising construction costs to keep houses affordably priced,” MacDonald cautioned.
NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz predicts continued improvement in new home sales as existing home inventory remains tight.
In the Northeast, September 2017’s seasonally adjusted annual rate was 48,000, surging from a month earlier by a third — more than any other region. Sales ascended 26 percent in the South to a 405,000 rate, while they were up 11 percent in the Midwest to 73,000 and 3 percent higher in the West to 141,000.
Last month concluded with a seasonally adjusted 279,000 new U.S. homes for sale. That worked out to a 5.0-month supply.
The median sales price in September was $319,700, while the average price was $385,200.
