A report released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday showed a substantial pullback by new home sales in the U.S. in the month of May.
The Commerce Department said new home sales plunged by 13.7 percent to an annual rate of 623,000 in May after spiking by 9.6 percent to a revised rate of 722,000 in April.
The steeper than expected drop by new home sales partly reflected weakness in the South, where new home sales plummeted by 21.0 percent.
New home sales in the Midwest and West also slumped by 7.1 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively, while new home sales in the Northeast skyrocketed by 32.1 percent.
Meanwhile, the report said the median price of new houses sold in May was $426,600, up 3.7 percent from $411,400 in April and up 3.0 percent from $414,300 in the same month a year ago.
The estimate of new houses for sale at the end of May was 507,000, which represents 9.8 months of supply at the current sales rate. The months of supply is up from 8.5 in May 2024.