New home sales in the United States dropped in August to the slowest pace in 17 years as average prices also fell significantly, according to report released by the US Commerce Department. In August, new home sales fell by 11.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 460,000 units. That’s the slowest pace for new homes since 1991.
Economists in the US had been expecting about a one percent drop in new home sales, so this decline comes as even worse news to the struggling US economy. The average price of a new home sold in August was $263,900, 11.8 percent lower than the price in July, which was $299,100. The median home price also fell 5.5 percent to $221,900.
Earlier in the week, existing property sales in the US for August were reported to have dropped 2.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.91 million units. According to the National Association of Realtors, the median price for existing homes sold declined 9.5 percent to $203,100.
New home sales fell in every region of the country except the Midwest, which showed a 7.2 percent increase in sales. The West saw the largest drop in sales, falling by 36.1 percent, with the Northeast not far behind at 31.9 percent. Sales in the South fell only a small amount, 2.1 percent, for the month.
Useful Resources
