Newsroom

June 25, 2014 – New-home sales in May reached 504,000 seasonally adjusted units and was the fastest pace since May of 2008, going up 18.6 percent from April and 16.9 percent from a year ago.

NAFCU Research Assistant Doug Christman analyzed data from the Census Bureau for a Macro Data Flash and found that all four regions of the country showed new-home sales increases in May. The Northeast saw the most growth at 54.5 percent, and the Midwest saw the least at just 1.4 percent.

"While this is a positive sign for the housing sector, new-home sales data tends to be volatile and prone to revisions," Christman wrote. "Limited inventory continues to constrain further gains in new-home sales and puts upward pressure on home prices. Improvements in the labor market, affordable housing and loosening credit standards are all expected to help the housing market improve throughout the year."

The median new-home price in May, non-seasonally adjusted, went up to $282,000 from $269,700 in April. The months of available inventory was 4.5 in May, down from 5.3 in April, and the number of unsold homes remained at 189,000, which is up 16.7 percent from the year before.