New U.S. home sales surge in June

Sales of new single-family homes rose sharply for the second straight month in June, pushing the sales rate to its highest level in 13 years, according to data released Friday.

The annual sales pace for U.S. new-home sales rose 13.8% last month to 776,000, the Commerce Department said Friday. That’s above the prior cycle high of 774,000 hit in January and is the strongest since July 2007, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a June sales rate of 710,000, compared with an original May estimate of 676,000. On Friday, the government revised May’s rate to 682,000. That pushed the May rise in new home sales to 19.4%

Sales rose in all four regions, with the largest gain of 89.7% coming in the Northeast. June’s sales pace is 6.9% above a year earlier.

The median price of new homes was $329,200 in June. That is 5.6% above the price one year ago. There were 307,000 new homes estimated to be up for sale, which equates to a tight 4.7-month supply. A 6-month supply of homes is generally considered to be indicative of a balanced market.