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Sales of new homes picked up in August across the United States to reach an annual seasonally adjusted rate of 800,000, according to data released Wednesday from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. That’s 20.5 percent above July’s rate of 664,000 and a 15.4 percent increase year-over-year from 693,000 in August 2024.
The Northeast saw the biggest gain in new home sales compared to the same time last year, with an estimated 31,000 new homes sales in August, or 40.9 percent more than the estimated 22,000 sales in the region in August 2024, according to the data.
The Western region was the only area of the country to see new home sales decline year-over-year. There were 150,000 new homes sales in the west in August, down 5.7 percent from 159,000 sales in August 2024.
Supply
The total estimated number of new homes for sale across the country held steady in August at 490,000, compared to 497,000 in July and 471,000 in August 2024.
But those figures take on a new meaning when taken with the current pace of the market.
New homes for sale dropped in August in terms of supply at the current rate of sales, with an estimated 7.4 months of supply hitting the market last month, compared to 9 months of supply in July and 8.2 months of supply in August 2024.
The U.S. housing market saw the months of supply of new homes peak in July 2022 at 10.6 months before interest rates took a toll. Months of supply has been growing fitfully since the market reached a trough of 6.9 months of supply in May of 2023, according the Census data.
Median sale price
The median price of new homes that sold in August was $413,500, according to the Census data. That’s a 4.7 percent increase from the previous month’s median sale price of $395,100 and 1.9 percent higher than the median price in August 2024 of $405,800.