Sales of new single-family homes fell 0.7% (+15.5% y/y) during September to 701,000 (SAAR) from 706,000 in August, revised from 713,000. Sales of 700,000 had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. These sales are recorded when contracts are signed or deposits are made.

The median price of a new home declined 7.9% (-8.8% y/y) to $299,400 last month. It was the lowest price since February 2017. Prices were 12.8% below the record high of $343,400 in November 2017. The average price of a new home weakened 8.1% (-6.1% y/y) to $362,700.

Sales were mixed m/m across the country last month. The only region to record an increase was the Midwest where sales rose 6.3% (-17.3% y/y) to 67,000 after a 10.0% decline in August. Working the other way, new home sales in the West declined 3.8% (+11.5% y/y) to 175,000 following a 14.5% rise. Moving lower by 2.8% (+29.6% y/y) were home sales in the Northeast to 35,000 following a 5.9% increase in August. In the South, sales eased 0.2% (+24.0% y/y) to 424,000 after a 5.7% gain.

The months' supply of homes on the market held steady at 5.5 and remained well below the December 2018 high of 7.4 months. The median number of months a new home was on the market after its completion rose slightly to 3.4 but remained above the recent low of 2.7 last October.

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.