Sales of newly built homes fell in June to the lowest level since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Monday.
Sales of new single family homes fell to an annualized rate of 676,000, 6.6% below May’s rate of 724,000 and 19.4% below the June 2020 level of 839,000, the data said. This was contrary to analysts’ expectations which predicted new home sales to increase by 3.4% in June.
After a year of hurried buying and price gains in the double digits, newly built homes now appear to be out of reach for much of the demand that remains in the market.
The median price of a newly built home in June rose just 6% from June 2020, and while that is a large gain historically, it is nothing compared with the 15%-20% annual gains seen in previous months.
