by Calculated Risk on 6/26/2006 10:12:00 AM

According to the Census Bureau report, New Home Sales in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.234 million. April's sales were revised down to 1.180 million.


Click on Graph for larger image.

Sales of new one-family houses in May 2006 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,234,000 ... This is 4.6 percent above the revised April rate of 1,180,000, but is 5.9 percent below the May 2005 estimate of 1,311,000.

The Not Seasonally Adjusted monthly rate was 114,000 New Homes sold. There were 120,000 New Homes sold in April 2005.

On a year over year basis, April 2006 sales were 5.0% lower than April 2005. Also, April '06 sales were about 1% below April '04.


The median and average sales prices were down slightly. Caution should be used when analyzing monthly price changes since prices are heavily revised.

The median sales price of new houses sold in May 2006 was $235,300; the average sales price was $294,300.


The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of May was 556,000. This represents a supply of 5.5 months at the current sales rate.

The 556,000 units of inventory is slightly below the record for new houses for sale set in April.


On a months of supply basis, inventory is above the level of recent years.

This report is stronger than expected and will probably be revised down (like the previous months).

This report indicates the housing slowdown is orderly - so far.