National home sales climb 24 percent in June

Sales of new single-family houses in June reached 330,000, a 23.6 percent month-over-month increase from May’s figure of 267,000, which was the second lowest since the U.S. Department of Commerce began keeping records in 1963, according to a report released today by the department. But last month’s sales marked a 16.7 percent year-over-year decrease since June 2009. The median sales prices of new homes sold in June was $213,000, while the average sales price was $242,000, the report says. Meanwhile, according to a report released last week by the National Association of Realtors, existing home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhouses, condominiums and co-ops, fell 5.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.37 million units in June, from 5.66 million in May. But the June figure marked a 9.8 percent year-over-year increase from June 2009’s 4.89 million units. TRD