By NAHB
Sales of new homes rose unexpectedly in July, following significant revisions in the previous months’ data.
Sales of newly built, single-family homes in July rose 10.6% to a 739,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate from significant upward revisions in June, according to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. The pace of new home sales in July is up 5.6% from a year earlier. After the notably higher revisions for the May and June data, new home sales from January through July of 2024 are up 2.6% in 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.
“Despite the monthly bump in new home sales data, higher rates continue to sideline buyers as housing affordability challenges remain,” said Carl Harris, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a custom home builder from Wichita, Kan. “The only sustainable way to ease high housing costs is to implement policies that allow builders to construct more attainable, affordable housing.”
“While mortgage rates moved lower in July, the Census estimated gains for new home sales do not match recent industry survey data including the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index which showed weakness in the current sales index,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “The Census estimate of new home sales is often volatile and subject to revisions and it is possible that the July estimate for sales will be revised lower next month. NAHB is forecasting gradual improvements for the home building sector as the Fed eases monetary policy and mortgage interest rates trend lower.”
