New home sales typically account for just 10 percent of total home sales. But with the inventory of available older homes still lower than normal, the new home market has become more active. In fact, according to new numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, sales of newly built single-family homes are now 5.9 percent higher than they were at the same time last year. The improvement comes at a time when home builders are expressing rising confidence in the market and residential construction is rising. But while the numbers are mostly positive, sales in February did fall short of economists’ expectations, with month-over-month results showing sales 0.3 percent below January’s revised totals. Also, the median sales price of new houses sold in February was $400,500. The average sales price was $485,000. (source)
