New single-family home sales on the rise

New single-family home sales ticked up slightly in August. Sales rose 7.9 percent above the revised July rate of 390,000 to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 421,000, according to estimates released jointly by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Census Bureau.

The number was also a 12.6 percent jump from the August 2012 estimate of 374,000.

The median sales price of a new house sold in August 2013 was $254,600 and the average $318,900. The seasonally-adjusted estimate of new houses listed for sale at the end of August was 175,000, representing a supply of five months at the current sales rate. — Julie Strickland