The U.S.
Commerce Department announced on Thursday that the sales of new single-family
homes climbed 8.0 per cent m-o-m to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 664,000
units in December 2023. This was the first rise in three months.
Economists
had predicted a sales pace of 645,000 last month.
The November
sales pace was revised up to 615,000 units from the originally reported 590,000
units.
According to
the report, new home sales in the South, the largest area, jumped by 10.6 per
cent m-o-m in December to 419,000. In addition, new home sales surged by 32.0 per cent m-o-m to 33,000 in the Northeast and
increased 9.2 per cent m-o-m to 71,000 in the Midwest. These gains, however,
were partly offset by a 3.4 per cent m-o-m fall in new home sales in the West to
141,000.
Compared to December
2022, new home sales grew by 4.4 per cent.
The report also
revealed that the median sales price tumbled by 13.8 per cent y-o-y to $413,200
in December, while the average sales price plummeted by 14.3 per cent y-o-y to
$487,300.