New home sales heat up in July

The housing market continues to hustle, demonstrating additional momentum fueled by low mortgage rates, the end of COVID-19 lockdowns and an urban exit in favor of the suburbs.

Sales of new single-family houses in July increased 13.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 901,000 from the revised June rate of 791,000, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported today. 

The latest report is also a 36.3% jump from the July 2019 estimate of 661,000.

Here’s how new home sales break down by region:

• While sales in the Northeast fell 23.1% in a month-over-month basis, sales soared 25% in a year-over-year basis from July 2019.
• In the Midwest, sales are hot and climbed 58.8% in a month-over-month basis. Sales on a year-over-year basis nearly doubled and are up 81.4%.
• New home sales in the South rose 13% in July and are up 27.6% compared to July 2019.
• While sales in the West are up 7.8% for July, the also rose 40.8% compared to July in the prior year.

The average sales priced grew 2.46% to $391,300 in July from an average sales price of $381,900 in June.

The median sales price for July dipped 1.9% to $330,600 in July from a median price of $337,000 in June. 

The full Monthly New Residential Sales Report for July 2020 is available here.

This report follows news that total residential starts for July surged 22.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.496 million from the revised June rate of 1.22 million. Single-family starts are up 8.2% for July.

Total residential permits rose 18.8% last month as single-family authorizations increased 17%.

Adding to the strength of the housing market are existing-homes sales, which climbed 24.7% in July while single-family existing-home sales ascended 23.9%.