U.S. New Home Sales Unexpectedly Fell in June

By Xavier Fontdegloria

Purchases of new single-family houses in the U.S. fell in June for the third consecutive month amid low inventories and high prices. Here are the main takeaways from the Commerce Department's report released Monday:

--New home sales decreased 6.6% in June compared with May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 676,000. This is the lowest reading since April 2020.

--The reading is below economists forecast polled by The Wall Street Journal, who expected a 3.4% increase to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 795,000.

--June sales were 19.4% below the same month a year earlier.

--May new home sales were downwardly revised to 724,000 from an earlier estimate of 769,000.

--Monthly new residential sales data is volatile and often revised. Data for June came with a margin of error of 16.5 percentage points.

--The median price of a new home was $361,800 in June, up from $341,100 the same month a year earlier but down from $380,700 in May.

--The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of June was 353,000. This represents a supply of 6.3 months at the current sales rate.

Write to Xavier Fontdegloria at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-26-21 1029ET