New Residential Sales Crush Expectations, Show No Effects Due to COVID-19 in May and June
Washington, D.C. (PPD) — The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) jointly reported the new residential sales statistics for May 2020. New home sales soared 13.8% (±17.8%) to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 776,000 in June, easily beating the consensus forecast.
Forecasts ranged from a low of 645,000 to a high of 720,000. The consensus forecast was 700,000.
New residential sales were on fire prior to the pandemic and beginning to show the fourth cylinder firing in a strong economy, peaking at 774,000 in January. That’s the highest level for new home sales since before the Great Recession, or July 2007. If the figure for June holds, it would be the new high.
The month of May was revised up from 672,000 to a rate of 682,000, despite the coronavirus (COVID-19) impact when most businesses and government were operating on a limited capacity or had ceased operations totally. Still, new home sales have shown little impact due to the pandemic and are now 6.9% (±13.7%) higher than the June 2019 estimate of 726,000.
The median sales price of new houses sold in June 2020 was $329,200. The average sales price was $384,700. The seasonally-adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of June was 307,000, representing a supply of 4.7 months at the current sales rate.
