Sales of newly built, single-family homes increased 1.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 719,000 units in November, off a downwardly revised October reading, according to newly released data by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. In a sign that new home sales are on an upward path, this is the fourth consecutive month that sales topped 700,000.
“Fueled by the limited number of resales available for purchase, low interest rates and low unemployment, new home sales are finishing the year strong,” said Greg Ugalde, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders.
“With almost all the 2019 data in, the housing rebound continued through second half of the year,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “New home sales are running 10 percent higher than in 2018, and high levels of builder confidence point to production gains going into 2020.”