New Home Sales Are Bouncing Back This Fall

Even with the rising home prices and mortgage rates, new home sales have bounced back.  The US Department of Housing and Urban Development along with the US Census Bureau reports that the sales of newly constructed homes have risen 28.8% from this summer.  It was reported that 685,000 new homes were sold in August 2022 which was up from July’s report of 532,000 and down slightly from a year ago with 686,000 newly constructed homes.

The median home price for a new home did slip to $436,800 from $439,400 the previous month.  Prospective buyers are not happy with the huge stretch in their budget, the long construction wait times and the rising mortgage rates.  The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed rate did dip just below 5% in August but is still high compared to the 3.22% we saw in January.

“New homes blew through estimates for August, but it’s likely an aberration caused by a dip in mortgage rates earlier in the summer. The good news is price increases for new homes continue to cool which points to a more reasonably-priced housing market starting as soon as next year,” said Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union.