New single-family home sales increased 6.7% (14.1% y/y) to 689,000 (SAAR) during May following a 3.7% April decline to 646,000, revised from 662,000. Expectations had been for 680,000 sales in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Sales are calculated when contracts are closed and are tabulated by the National Association of Realtors.

The median price of a new home fell 1.7% (-3.3% y/y) to $313,000 from $318,500, revised from $312,400. It was the lowest price since April of last year. The average price of a new home declined 6.6% (-2.6% y/y) to $368,500, the lowest price since March.

Changes in new home sales were mixed last month across the country. Home sales in the South surged 17.9% (19.2% y/y) to 409,000, the highest level since July 2007. In other areas of the country, sales were weak m/m. Sales were unchanged in the Midwest at 87,000, but still rose 40.3% y/y. In the Northeast, sales declined 10.0% (-16.3% y/y) to 36,000. New home sales in the West slumped 8.7% (+0.6% y/y) to 157,000.

The months' supply of homes on the market declined m/m to 5.2 and has been moving irregularly sideways since 2012. The median number of months a new home was on the market remained low at 3.7, up slightly during the last nine months.

The data in this report are available in Haver's USECON database. The consensus expectation figure from Action Economics is available in the AS1REPNA database.

How Is Technology Changing the Mortgage Market? from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York can be found here.