WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing a significant rebound in new home sales in the U.S. in the month of August.
The report said new home sales surged by 6.4 percent to an annual rate of 684,000 in August after plunging by 4.3 percent to an upwardly revised rate of 643,000 in July.
Economists had expected new home sales to jump by 1.3 percent to an annual rate of 615,000 from the 607,000 originally reported for the previous month.
With the much bigger than expected increase, new home sales reached their highest annual rate since hitting 723,000 last December.
'New home sales surprised for the upside in August, while the trend of upward revision to prior month data persisted,' said Matthew Martin, Senior U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.
He added, 'However, the renewed push higher in mortgage rates and the hit to real disposable income from elevated inflation will test the housing market and will push us to revise down our forecast for sales this year and next.'
The spike in new home sales largely reflected a substantial rebound in new home sales in the Midwest, which skyrocketed by 84.9 percent in August after plummeting by 32.1 percent in July.
New home sales in the South also surged by 6.9 percent, while new home sales in the West plunged by 15.2 percent and new home sales in the Northeast nosedive by 36.1 percent.
The report also said the estimate of new homes for sale at the end of August was 483,000, unchanged from July but down 2.0 percent from 493,000 a year ago.
The estimate of new homes for sale represents 8.5 months of supply at the current sales rate, down from 9.0 months in July and virtually unchanged from August 2025.
The Commerce Department also said the median sales price of new houses sold in August was $393,700, up 0.4 percent from $392,200 in July but down 5.8 percent from $417,900 a year ago.
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