Sales of new single-family houses in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 468,000, according to estimates jointly released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. That is 9.6 percent above the revised December rate of 427,000 and 2.2 percent above the January 2013 estimate of 458,000.
Sales of new single-family houses in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 468,000, according to estimates jointly released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. That is 9.6 percent above the revised December rate of 427,000 and 2.2 percent above the January 2013 estimate of 458,000.
"The fact that the cold weather that hit much of the country didn't stop home buyers from going out and purchasing a piece of the American dream is a great sign," Kevin Kelly, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders and a home builder from Wilmington, Del., said in a statement. "However, the very low supply of new homes on the market and the continued concern of available buildable lots still have builders cautious about getting ahead of themselves."
Regionally, new-home sales were generally strong with three of the four regions posting large gains. The South, the West and the Northeast showed improvement, with respective increases of 10.4 percent, 11.0 percent and 73.7 percent. New-home sales in the Midwest fell by 17.2 percent.
The median sales price of new houses sold in January was $260,100; the average sales price was $322,800. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of January was 184,000.