U.S. New Home Sales Pull Back Much More Than Expected In April

(RTTNews) - After reporting a sharp increase in new home sales in the U.S. in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing new home sales pulled back by much more than expected in the month of April.

The Commerce Department said new home sales plunged by 4.7 percent to an annual rate of 634,000 in April after surging by 5.4 percent to a revised rate of 665,000 in March.

Economists had expected new home sales to decrease by 1.9 percent to an annual rate of 680,000 from the 693,000 originally reported for the previous month.

The report showed new home sales in the Northeast led the way lower, plummeting by 20.9 percent to an annual rate of 34,000 in April.

New home sales in the West also dove by 7.3 percent to a rate of 153,000 and new home sales in the South tumbled by 4.8 percent to a rate of 359,000, but new home sales in the Midwest surged by 10.0 percent to a rate of 88,000.

The Commerce Department also said the median sales price of new houses sold in April was $433,500, down 1.4 percent from $439,500 in March but up 3.9 percent from $417,200 a year ago.

The estimate of new houses for sale at the end of April was 480,000, which represents 9.1 months of supply at the current sales rate. The months of supply is up from 8.5 months in March and 7.5 months in April 2023.

A separate report released by the National Association of Realtors on Wednesday showed existing home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly saw further downside in the month of April.

NAR said existing home sales slumped by 1.9 percent to an annual rate of 4.14 million in April after tumbling by 3.7 percent to a revised rate of 4.22 million in March.

Economists had expected existing home sales to rise by 0.5 percent to an annual rate of 4.21 million from the 4.19 million originally reported for the previous month.

With the unexpected decrease, existing home sales continued to give back ground after surging to a one-year high of 4.38 million in February.