New single-family home sales increased 3.5% (12.7% y/y) during August to 629,000 (SAAR) from 608,000 in July, revised from 627,000. June's sales level also was revised lower to 618,000 from 638,000. Sales during August were 11.7% below the high of 712,000 reached in November 2017. Expectations had been for 632,000 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 declined 2.4% to $320,200 (+1.9% y/y) from a little-revised $328,100. The average price of a new home eased slightly to $388,400 (+5.2% y/y).

New home sales moved higher m/m in most of the country. Home sales in the Northeast rebounded 47.8% (-2.9% y/y) to 34,000 after a sharp July decline. New home sales in the West gained 9.1% (19.1%) to 168,000, a five-month high. In the Midwest, sales rose 2.7% in August (13.2% y/y) to 77,000, though they remained 12.5% below the high four months earlier. Working the other way last month were sales in the South. They fell 1.7% (+11.5% y/y) as they reversed July's increase.

The months' supply of homes on the market eased to 6.1, though that remained up from the low of 4.5 months in July 2016. The median number of months a new home was on the market fell to 2.8 and equaled the recovery low.

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.