Briefing.com: New Home Sales

Updated: 24-Jun-26 10:19 ET

May New Home Sales

Updated: 24-Jun-26 10:19 ET

Highlights

New home sales decreased 7.3% month-over-month in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 580,000 (Briefing.com consensus: 627,000) from a downwardly revised 626,000 (from 622,000) in April. The level of sales in May is the second lowest over the last 12 months.
On a year-over-year basis, new home sales were down 6.8%.

Key Factors

The median sales price was flat yr/yr in May at $424,900, while the average sales price increased 5.0% yr/yr to $540,600.
New home sales month-over-month/year-over-year by region in May: Northeast (+3.0%/+17.2%); Midwest (+16.2%/-3.7%); South (-4.1%/-5.4%); and West (-26.9%; -17.0%).
At the current sales pace, the supply of new homes for sale stood at 10.3 months, versus 9.3 in April and 9.7 months in the year-ago period.
The percentage of new homes sold for $399,000 or less accounted for 45% of new homes sold versus 45% in April. Homes priced between $400,000 and $799,000 accounted for 44% of new homes sold versus 45% in April. New homes priced at $800,000 or over accounted for 11% of sales versus 10% in April.

Big Picture

The key takeaway from the report is that new home sales in May were pressured by affordability constraints tied to rising mortgage rates. Notably, the West region, which features the highest-priced homes, saw the biggest hit to sales month-over-month; however, there was also weakness in the more affordable South region, which is the nation's largest homebuilding market.