by Calculated Risk on 6/24/2005 10:19:00 AM

According to a Census Bureau report, New Home Sales in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.298 million vs. market expectations of 1.32 million. April sales were revised down significantly to 1.271 Million.


Click on Graph for larger image.

NOTE: The graph starts at 700 thousand units per month to better show monthly variation.

Sales of new one-family houses in May 2005 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,298,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 2.1 percent above the revised April rate of 1,271,000 and is 4.4 percent above the May 2004 estimate of 1,243,000.



The Not Seasonally Adjusted monthly rate was 120,000 New Homes sold, up from a revised 117,000 in April.

The median sales price of new houses sold in May 2005 was $217,000; the average sales price was $281,400.



UPDATE: Add graph of median and average prices.

The average sales price is down slightly and the median price is the lowest since September of 2004.



The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of May was 442,000. This represents a supply of 4.2 months at the current sales rate.

The seasonally adjusted supply of New Homes was 4.2 months, about normal for the last few years. The supply for April was also 4.2 months, revised from 4.1 months.

New Home Sales were below Wall Street forecasts. The story is the downward revisions for March and April. Both months were originally reported as record sales, but they have been revised to be below the record of last October.