New home sales climbed 24% in June compared to the prior month's sales. 330,000 new homes were sold in June, an increase of 24% over May's figures. The news sounds good and the stock market liked it, but it isn't really as good as it sounds. May's figure of 267,000, was the lowest on record since 1963. The sales for June, 2010 were 16.7% below the sales in June, 2009. Here is an excerpt from the official report (PDF) from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Sales of new single-family houses in June 2010 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 330,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
This is 23.6 percent (±15.3%) above the revised May rate of 267,000, but is 16.7 percent (±10.9%) below the June 2009 estimate of 396,000. The median sales price of new houses sold in June 2010 was $213,400; the average sales price was $242,900. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of June was 210,000. This represents a supply of 7.6 months at the current sales rate.
