U.S. New Home Sales Rebound Less Than Expected In February

(RTTNews) - After reporting a sharp pullback by new home sales in the U.S. in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing new home sales rebounded by less than expected in the month of February.

The Commerce Department said new home sales jumped by 1.8 percent to an annual rate of 676,000 in February after plunging by 6.9 percent to a revised rate of 664,000 in January.

Economists had expected new home sales to surge by 3.5 percent to an annual rate of 680,000 from the 657,000 originally reported for the previous month.

The rebound by new home sales partly reflected a sharp increase by new home sales in the Midwest, which skyrocketed by 20.6 percent.

New home sales in the South also spiked by 6.6 percent, while new home sales in the West and Northeast plummeted by 13.6 percent and 21.4 percent, respectively.

The report also said the median sales price of new houses sold in February was $414,500, down 3.0 percent from $427,400 in January and down 1.5 percent from $420,900 in the same month a year ago.

The estimate of new houses for sale at the end of February was 500,000, which represents 8.9 months of supply at the current sales rate. The month of supply is down from 9.0 in January but up from 8.7 in February 2024.

Last Thursday, the National Association of Realtors released a separate report showing existing home sales unexpectedly rebounded in the month of February.

NAR said existing home sales surged by 4.2 percent to an annual rate of 4.26 million in February after tumbling by 4.7 percent to a revised rate of 4.09 million in January.

The sharp increase surprised economists, who had expected existing home sales to slump by another 3.2 percent to an annual rate of 3.95 million from the 4.08 million originally reported for the previous month.