The sale of newly-built homes in the United States fell to a near one-year low all over the country last September after two straight months of gain.
The Commerce Department reported last Monday that the sales of new-homes dropped 11.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 468,000 units. August's sales pace was revised from the previously reported 552,000 units down to 529,000 units.
Reuters reported that the new-home sales that account for 7.8 percent of the housing market have the tendency to go volatile on a month-to-month basis because they are drawn from a small sample.
Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan, said that the September results have little meaning for them.
"The September report does little to alter our view that the housing market is continuing to recover," Silver said. "We view the new home sales data as unreliable and many other more reliable housing indicators have been sending upbeat signals lately."
According to the report of the Wall Street Journal, there were 5.8 months' worth of newly-built homes last September, which is considered to be the highest level since July 2014. 225,000 homes were for sale last September. However, most of the 9,000-home uptick were in homes that weren't yet started or still under construction.
A report from Realty Today has stated that the shortage of labor force in residential construction will not only cause certain delays during the construction, but will also bring forth increase in the prices of newly-built homes.
The median sales price of new homes stood at $296,900, an increase by 13.5 percent from a year ago.
John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics in New York, thinks that the increase in the median price of new homes may suggest two things.
"The strong price gains suggest either that the mix of houses shifted to more expensive houses or that homebuilders are pushing up prices," said Ryding. "Weakening demand would be accompanied by slowing price gains or price declines."
