U.S. New Home Sales Decline in December After November’s Jump
Summary
- December sales -1.7% m/m (+3.8% y/y) to 745,000; still 43.5% above the July ’22 low.
- Sales m/m down the Northeast (-37.3%) and South (-6.7%), but up in the Midwest (+31.7%) and West (+9.0%).
- Median sales price up to a three-month-high $414,400; avg. price up to $532,600, highest since July ’22.
- Months' supply eases to 7.6 mths., lowest since July ’23.
New single-family home sales fell 1.7% m/m (+3.8% y/y) to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 745,000 units in December—above expectations—following a 15.5% jump to 758,000 in November and a downwardly revised 8.8% drop to 656,000 in October (previously -0.1%, 737,000), data from the U.S. Census Bureau showed. The Action Economics Forecast Survey had expected sales of 733,000 for December. The December figure was the second m/m decline in three months, though sales remained 43.5% above the July 2022 low of 519,000. For all of 2025, new home sales declined 0.5% after gains of 3.0% in 2024 and 4.4% in 2023. The December m/m sales fall occurred alongside a decrease in the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate to 6.20%, the lowest since September 2024, down from 6.24% in November and 6.72% in December 2024; the rate had subsequently continued trending downward, according to Freddie Mac.
By region, December new home sales delivered a mixed performance. Sales in the Northeast plunged 37.3% (+12.1% y/y) to 37,000 in December following a 37.2% gain in November, registering the lowest level since September and the steepest m/m decline since February 2023. Sales in the South fell 6.7% (-1.1% y/y) to 430,000, the first m/m fall in three months, after a 10.0% November gain. To the upside, sales in the Midwest jumped 31.7% (30.1% y/y) to 108,000 after a 2.4% November decline, marking the largest m/m gain since January 2024 and the highest level since December 2020. Sales in the West, up for the fourth time in five months, rose 9.0% (1.8% y/y) to a three-month-high 170,000 on top of a 41.8% November surge. Notably, the South remained the dominant region, accounting for 57.7% of total U.S. new home sales.
The median sales price of a new home rose 4.2% (-2.0% y/y) to a three-month-high $414,400 in December, the first m/m rise in four months, following a 1.4% decline to $397,600 in November (the lowest since July 2025). The median sales price was 10.0% below its record high of $460,300 in October 2022. The average sales price of a new home, up for the third straight month, rose 0.5% (4.7% y/y) to $532,600, the highest since July 2022, after a 1.7% November increase to $530,200. The average price was 1.6% below a high of $541,200 in July 2022. These sales price data are not seasonally adjusted.
The number of unsold new homes on the market fell 2.7% (-3.5% y/y) to 472,000 in December after a 1.0% decline to 485,000 in November, representing the sixth m/m fall in seven months and the lowest level since August 2024. The latest figure was 10.8% above a low of 426,000 in July 2023. The seasonally adjusted months' supply of new homes for sale dipped to 7.6 months in December—the lowest reading since July 2023—after falling to 7.7 months in November. The latest reading, while above a low of 6.9 months in May 2023, remained below a high of 10.6 months in July 2022.
The median number of months a new home stayed on the market rose to 3.0 months in December, the highest since April 2022, after rising to 2.9 months in November. The latest number was above its record low of 1.5 months in both September and October of 2022 but well below a peak of 5.1 months in March 2021. These figures date back to January 1975.
New home sales are recorded when the sales contract is signed. New home sales activity and prices are available in Haver's USECON database. The consensus expectation figure from Action Economics is available in the AS1REPNA database.
Winnie Tapasanun
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Winnie Tapasanun has been working for Haver Analytics since 2013. She has 20+ years of working in the financial services industry. As Vice President and Economic Analyst at Globicus International, Inc., a New York-based company specializing in macroeconomics and financial markets, Winnie oversaw the company’s business operations, managed financial and economic data, and wrote daily reports on macroeconomics and financial markets. Prior to working at Globicus, she was Investment Promotion Officer at the New York Office of the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) where she wrote monthly reports on the U.S. economic outlook, wrote reports on the outlook of key U.S. industries, and assisted investors on doing business and investment in Thailand. Prior to joining the BOI, she was Adjunct Professor teaching International Political Economy/International Relations at the City College of New York. Prior to her teaching experience at the CCNY, Winnie successfully completed internships at the United Nations. Winnie holds an MA Degree from Long Island University, New York. She also did graduate studies at Columbia University in the City of New York and doctoral requirements at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her areas of specialization are international political economy, macroeconomics, financial markets, political economy, international relations, and business development/business strategy. Her regional specialization includes, but not limited to, Southeast Asia and East Asia. Winnie is bilingual in English and Thai with competency in French. She loves to travel (~30 countries) to better understand each country’s unique economy, fascinating culture and people as well as the global economy as a whole.
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