The Residential Real Estate Crash Index Message Board

From: redfish	7/27/2005 10:13:04 AM
	Read Replies (1) of 306802

Another new home sale record in June Inventory of new homes also sets record By Greg Robb, MarketWatch WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - U.S. new home sales jumped by 4.0% in June to a record 1.37 million seasonally adjusted annual rate, the Commerce Department estimated Wednesday. June sales smashed the previous record of 1.32 million set last month. The gain was unexpected. Economists forecast sales to inch lower to 1.29 million in June. Read Economic Calendar. The inventory of unsold homes on the market rose by 2.5% to a record 454,000, but represents a 4.0-month supply at the strong June sales pace. This is down from a 4.1-month supply in May. The inventory level had spiked at a 4.4-month supply in February. In separate releases on Wednesday, the Commerce Department said new orders for durable goods increased 1.4% in June. See full story. The median price of a new home fell 5.5% in June to $214,800 from the previous month. The median price is down 0.4% in the past year. The government cautions that its housing data are particularly prone to sampling and other statistical errors. It can take six months to establish a new trend in home sales. In June, sales rose in all four regions of the country. Sales in the South climbed 5.1% to a 640,000 annual rate. Sales increased about 7.2% in the Northeast, 2.1% in the Midwest and about 2.8% in the West.