2018.10.2411:06:00UTC+00U.S. New Home Sales Drop In September

Data released by the Commerce Department Wednesday morning showed new home sales in the U.S. dropped in September, after having increased much more than expected a month earlier.

The report from the Commerce Department said new home sales were down 5.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 553,000 in September, after having increased by a revised rate of 585,000 in August. Sales were down 13.2 percent compared to the September 2017 estimate of 637,000.

The drop in new home sales in September was due to a sharp 40.6 percent fall in sales to 19,000 in the Northeast, where sales had jumped by nearly 48 percent in August, and a 12 percent decline to 139,000 in the West, where sales had increased by little over 9 percent in August.

New home sales in the South were down 1.5 percent at 318,000, while sales in the Midwest increased by 6.9 percent to 77,000. In August, sales were up 2.7 percent in the Midwest, while in the South, sales dropped by 1.7 percent.

According to the report, the median sales price of new homes in September was $320,000, down slightly from $320,000 in August. The average sales price of new homes was $377,200 in the month.

A report released by the National Association of Realtors last week showed existing home sales in the U.S. to have tumbled by much more than anticipated in the month of September, and to their lowest annual rate in nearly three years.

NAR said existing home sales plunged by 3.4 percent to an annual rate of 5.15 million in September after edging down by 0.2 percent to a revised rate of 5.33 million in August. Economists had expected existing home sales to drop by 0.7 percent to a rate of 5.30 million from the 5.34 million originally reported for the previous month.