US New Home Sales Pace Highest In 12 Years As Median Price Plunges

Following the upside surprise in existing home sales, new home sales were expected to rebound after September’s dip.

However, a massive upward revision for September (from -0.7% to +4.5%) meant that October new home sales slipped 0.7%…

Source: Bloomberg

A major jump YoY…

The 733k SAAR is much higher than the expected 705k, and the fastest pace in more than 12 years, adding to signs of sturdy housing demand amid lower prices and borrowing costs.

Source: Bloomberg

Even with the gains, the pace of new home sales remains well below levels reached during the housing boom of the 2000s, when purchases peaked at 1.39 million.

Notably though the median sales price decreased 3.5% from a year earlier to $316,700…

Source: Bloomberg

Purchases of new homes rose from the prior month in the West and Midwest, while declining in the Northeast and South.

The number of properties sold for which construction hadn’t yet started rose to 250,000, the highest since 2007.