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Census Bureau: New Home Sales at Highest Rate in Seven Years

Sales of new single family homes took an unexpected turn Tuesday, when data released showed the rate rose to the highest it has been in seven years. According to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD, the February sales are up nearly 25 percent compared to sales from that month last year. Sales for February 2014 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 539,000. This is 7.8 percent above the January rate of 500,000.

The report brings positive news to what some might say has been a lackluster start for housing in the New Year. January marked a slow start for housing recovery, with single-family housing starts falling 6.7 percent month-over-month. Overall, January’s new construction rate was down 2 percent from the month before. And in February, privately-owned housing starts dropped to the lowest rate seen in years. Housing starts for February dropped 17 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 897,000.

The median sales price of new houses sold in February 2015 was $275,500; the average sales price was $341,000. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of February was 210,000. This represents a supply of 4.7 months at the current sales rate.

The Northeast saw the largest increase in both month-over-month and year-over-year figures with improved weather conditions. The region had an 84 percent increase in sales from February 2014 and a massive 152.9 percent increase from January 2015 to February 2015. The West also saw a large increase in year-over-year rates with a 34 percent increase, but had a 6 percent decrease in sales from January 2015 to February 2015. The South showed gains in both monthly and yearly figures, while the Midwest saw a 3.6 percent decline year-over-year and a 12.9 percent decline month-over-month.

About Author: Samantha Guzman

Samantha Guzman is an award-winning visual journalist and graduate of the University of North Texas Mayborn School of Journalism. She specializes in visual storytelling and has skills in video, audio and photography, in addition to news writing. She has traveled to Mexico and Bosnia as an assistant for multiple multimedia projects and taught news writing, photojournalism, and narrative storytelling in the past.
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