by Calculated Risk on 8/24/2006 10:31:00 AM

According to the Census Bureau report, New Home Sales in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.072 million. Sales for June were revised down to 1.120 million, from 1.131 million. Numbers for April and May were also revised down.


Click on Graph for larger image.
Sales of new one-family houses in July 2006 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,072,000 ... This is 4.3 percent below the revised June rate of 1,120,000 and is 21.6 percent below the July 2005 estimate of 1,367,000.
The Not Seasonally Adjusted monthly rate was 91,000 New Homes sold. There were 117,000 New Homes sold in July 2005.

On a year over year NSA basis, July 2006 sales were 22.2% lower than July 2005. Also, July '06 sales were below July 2004 (96,000) and July 2003 (99,000) sales. This is the lowest July since 2002 when 82,000 new homes were sold.


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 July 2006 was $230,000; the average sales price was $293,500.


The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of July was 568,000. This represents a supply of 6.5 months at the current sales rate.

The 568,000 units of inventory is another record for new houses for sale.

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

This report is weaker than expected by Wall Street, but is in line with recent reports from home builders. More later today on New Home Sales and Recessions.