March new-home sales up 7.5 percent annually

Sales of new single-family houses in March 2012 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 328,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 7.5 percent (±19.6 percent) above the March 2011 estimate of 305,000, but 7.1 percent (±20.7 percent) below the revised February rate of 353,000.

Looking at the umbers by region, the South had the greatest positive annual increase at 16.4 percent; month-to-month, new home sales there went up 3.1 percent. The Northeast did almost as well, posting year-over-year gains of 12 percent, while new home sales increased 7.7 percent from February to March.

The West and the Midwest saw sales of new homes fall by 7.1 percent and 7.7 percent year-over-year, respectively.

The median sales price of new houses sold in March 2012 was $234,500; the average sales price was $291,200. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of March was 144,000. This represents a supply of 5.3 months at the current sales rate.

To read the rest of the report, click here.