Confidence bounces; glimmer of hope in housing Posted on August 26th
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sales of newly constructed U.S. single-family homes in July were lower than economists expected but rose from a June pace that was the slowest in nearly 17 years, a government report showed on Tuesday.
Economists polled by Reuters were expecting to sales to remain unchanged at the 530,000 annual pace first reported for June. The actual sales pace in July of 515,000 climbed from the revised June level of 503,000, which was the lowest since a 487,000 pace in September 1991.
The inventory of homes available for sale shrank 5.2 percent to 416,000, the lowest since October 2004. The July sales pace put the supply of homes available for sale at 10.1 months’ worth.
The median sales price rose slightly to $230,700 from $230,100 from June, but was down 6.3 percent from a year earlier, the government said.
(Reporting by Patrick Rucker; Editing by Neil Stempleman)