The U.S. Commerce Department announced on Wednesday that the sales of
new single-family homes surged 11.9 percent m-o-m to a seasonally adjusted
annual rate of 811,000 units in December. This was the highest reading since
March (873,000).
Economists had forecast the sales pace of 760,000 last month.
The November sales’ pace was revised down to 725,000 units from the
initially reported 744,000 units.
According to the report, new home sales in the South, the largest area, climbed
14.9 percent m-o-m in December, In addition, new home sales in the Midwest surged
56.4 percent m-o-m and those in the West increased 0.4 percent m-o-m. In the
meantime, new home sales in the Northeast plunged 15.6 percent m-o-m last
month.
The report also revealed that the median sales price rose 3.4 percent y-o-y
to $377,700, while the average sales price jumped 13.8 percent y-o-y to $457,300.
In y-o-y terms, new home sales were down 14.0 percent in December.