Sales of new buildings increased significantly in June, topping analysts’ estimates, and pointing to the steady improvement in the US housing market. This was reported by the Ministry of Commerce.
According to data, seasonally adjusted sales of new homes rose in June by 3.5% compared with the previous month, reaching an annual rate of 592,000 units. Last rate of increase turned out to be the strongest since February 2008. Economists had expected sales amount to 560 000. The figure for May was revised up to 572,000 from 551,000.
Compared with June 2015 sales of new buildings increased by 25.4%. In broader terms, in the first six months of 2016 sales increased by 10.1% per annum confident.
The Ministry of Commerce said that the increase in new home sales was backed up by historically low interest rates. The average rate on 30-year mortgage with a fixed rate was 3.57% in June, compared to 3.98% in June 2015.
However, housing stocks remain scarce, which has upward pressure on housing prices. Recall data released last week showed that in late June on the secondary market was a 4.6-month supply of homes available for sale. As for the market of new buildings, housing inventory at the end of June it was sufficient for 4.9 months of sales, which is the lowest value in more than a year. The median sales price of new homes in June was $ 306,700, which is 6.1% more compared to the previous year.
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