Median New Home Prices in October Set Record

The median price of new homes sold in October rose to an all-time high of $305,000 while the average price was $401,000, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Mortgage News Daily reported Nov. 26.

A year earlier, those numbers stood at $264,400 and $335,700, respectively.

The Census Bureau and HUD reported that October new home sales were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 458,000 units, an increase of 0.7 percent from September, which had a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 450,000.

Mortgage News Daily reported that by the end of October, 212,000 newly constructed homes were for sale, a 5.6-month supply at the current rate of sales. A year earlier, the supply was at 4.9 months. Homes that sold in October had been on the market for a median of three months.

Regionally, sales in the Northeast were 7.1 percent higher in October than in September but down 6.3 percent from a year ago. In the Midwest sales were up 15.9 percent month-over-month but down 2.9 percent year-over-year. New homes sales in the South were down 1.9 percent from September and down 4.5 percent from a year ago. Sales in the West dropped 2.7 percent month-over-month but were 27.9 percent higher than a year earlier.