New home sales posted a 5.7 percent gain in September, the
Census Bureau reported today, contributing to an annual increase of
27.1 percent over the September 2011 level.
The Census Bureau estimates that sales of newly built
single-family homes were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of
389,000 units in September. That compares to a revised rate of
368,000 in August and 308,000 in September 2011.
Sales showed their strongest gains in the Northeast and South,
with monthly increases of 16.7 percent and 16.8 percent,
respectively. On an annual basis, sales in the Northeast showed a
very strong 75 percent gain over their September 2011 level, while
sales in the South rose by 24.3 percent over the same period.
Meanwhile, new home sales in the Midwest suffered a big drop in
September, falling by 37.3 percent for the month, undoing what had
been a year of small gains and producing a 31.9 percent annual
decline.
The West region of the nation has seen strong growth in new home
sales over the past year, with a 61.3 percent annual increase,
although only a 3.9 percent gain in Florida.
Home prices rising
Meanwhile, the newest figures from the Federal Housing Finance
Agency (FHFA) indicate that overall home prices rose for a sixth
consecutive month in August, increasing a seasonally adjusted 0.7
percent. That contributed to an annual increase of 4.7 percent over
August 2011 levels, according to the FHFA figures released
today.
Nationally, home prices remain 15.9 percent below their peak
reached in April 2007 and are roughly at the same level they were
in April 2004, according to the FHFA's Home Price Index.
The strongest price gains over the previous 12 months were seen
in the Mountain and Pacific census regions of the country, with
annual increases of 11.4 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively. The
weakest price gains were in the Middle Atlantic and New England
regions, with annual increases of 0.4 percent and 1.4 percent,
respectively, as of August.
The FHFA Home Price Index is based on purchases prices of home
bought with mortgages guaranteed by
Fannie Mae
or
Freddie Mac
.
First published on MortgageLoan.com at:
http://www.mortgageloan.com/new-home-sales-home-prices-rise-9275