U.S. New Home Sales Extend Rebound But Increase Less Than Expected

The Commerce Department released a report on Monday showing a continued rebound in new home sales in the U.S. in the month of January, although the increase fell short of economist estimates.

The report said new home sales climbed 1.5 percent to an annual rate of 661,000 in January after surging by 7.3 percent to a revised rate of 651,000 in December.

With the increase, new home sales continued to regain ground after hitting their lowest level in a year in November.

However, economists had expected new home sales to jump by 2.4 percent to a rate of 680,000 from the 664,000 originally reported for the previous month.

The extended rebound in new home sales came as new home sales in the Northeast skyrocketed by 72.0 percent to a rate of 43,000, and new home sales in the West soared by 38.7 percent to a rate of 190,000.

New home sales in the Midwest also spiked by 7.7 percent to a rate of 70,000, but new home sales in the South plummeted by 15.6 percent to a rate of 358,000.

The Commerce Department also said the median sales price of new houses sold in January was $420,700, up 1.8 percent from $413,100 in December but down 2.6 percent from $432,100 a year ago.

The estimate of new houses for sale at the end of January was 456,000, which represents 8.3 months of supply at the current sales rate. The months of supply is unchanged from December but up from 8.1 months in January of 2023.

Last Thursday, the National Association of Realtors released a separate report showing a significant rebound in existing home sales in the U.S. in the month of January.

NAR said existing home sales jumped by 3.1 percent to an annual rate of 4.00 million in January after falling by 0.8 percent to a revised rate of 3.88 million in December.

Economists had expected existing home sales to surge by 5.0 percent to a rate of 3.97 million from the 3.78 million originally reported for the previous month.