New Home Sales Decline in May

June 23, 2011 (Chris Moore)

Sales of new single-family homes declined 2.1 percent in May at a seasonally adjusted rate of 319,000 following two months of modest gains according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Sales had fallen to an all-time low of 279,000 in February and were followed by gains in March and April. Sales were 13.5 percent higher than the estimated 281,000 units sold in May of 2010.

The median sales price of the new homes sold in May was $222,600, which was up from 217,000 in April. The average sales price in May was $266,400, which was also up from 265,400 in April.

Only one of the four regions experienced a gain in new home sales from April to May, while two regions experienced declines and one was unchanged.

New single-family home sales in the South increased 2.4 percent, while the Midwest remained unchanged from April to May. The West reported a sales decline of 3.5 percent, while sales in the Northeast dropped 26.7 percent.

New home sales were up in 3 of the 4 regions from May of 2010, with only the Northeast suffering a decline. The Midwest reported a sales increase of 5.0 percent, the South saw an increase of 13.9 percent and the West reported a whopping 31.7 percent increase in new single-family home sales. Year-over-year new home sales in the Northeast declined 18.5 percent.

Tags: Census Bureau, new home sales, single-family homes, median sales price, average sales price

Source:
Census Bureau