Houses priced at $300,000 or less made up nearly a quarter of all new single-family home sales in November, as the market bounced back from a lackluster performance earlier in the fall.
The median price of new homes sold dropped to $403,000 from $437,300 in October. Sales of homes in the lowest price range jumped from 13%, while sales in price categories above $300,000 fell or were unchanged.
Sales rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 664,000, up 5.9% from the revised October rate of 627,000, according to data released Monday by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. November’s figure is also 8.7% above the rate from one year earlier.
On a regional basis, the South accounted for 417,000 sales, an increase from 366,000 the previous month. Hurricanes Helene and Milton struck the region within a two-week period in late September and early October, disrupting construction activity and leading to delays in sales.
“We expected a bit more of a rebound in sales in the South, where sales plummeted 22.5% in October,” Nancy Vanden Houten, lead U.S. economist for research firm Oxford Economics, said in a statement.
In other regions, the sales picture was mixed, with transactions rising 17% in the Midwest and falling 8% in the West. Sales also dropped noticeably in the Northeast by 41%. Vanden Houten downplayed the latter figure’s significance given that the region makes up just 5 percent of sales.
There were a seasonally adjusted 490,000 new single-family homes for sale across the U.S. at the end of November, or a supply of 8.9 months, the Census and HUD reported. That’s down from a 9.2-month supply in October.
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Monday’s report followed news from the National Association of Realtors last week that sales of existing single-family homes and condos saw their largest annual increase since June 2021. Still, total existing-home sales for 2024 overall will likely be the lowest in nearly three decades.
“We forecast sales will average roughly 725,000 for the year [in 2025], supported by strong demand, a solid economy and labor market and, despite some recent increases, a still relatively lean supply of existing homes for sale,” according to Vanden Houten.