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New Home Sales Explode Back to Pre-Pandemic Levels
Friday, July 24, 2020
New Home sales have done it again, rising for
the third straight month. The U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and
Urban Development estimate that newly constructed single-family homes were sold
at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 776,000 units. This is a 13.8 percent
increase over the May rate, which was revised higher, from 676,000 units to
682,000. Sales are now greater than the same month in 2019 for the first time
since the pandemic struck, up 6.9 percent compared to June of last year. They also
topped the 774,000 units reported in January 2020, said to be a 13-year high. Sales were higher than even the most optimistic
projection by analysts polled by Econoday. Their forecasts ranged from a
648,000-unit annualized rate to 720,000. The consensus was 700,000. On an unadjusted basis there were 74,000 new homes
sold during the month. Sales in May were estimated at 64,000. For the
year-to-date sales have totaled 372,000, up from 360,000 for the first half of
2019, a 3.2 percent gain.
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