Sales of new U.S. homes plummeted 9.4% in July, the sharpest one-month drop in nearly a year. But the decline followed strong sales in previous months, and sales so far this year are outpacing last year’s.
New home sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 571,000 in July, down from 630,000 in June, the Commerce Department says. Last month’s figure was the weakest since December.
Still, sales in the first seven months of the year are 9.2% higher than in the same period in 2016. More buyers are turning to newly built houses as the supply of existing homes for sale has fallen steadily.
The housing market overall is mostly healthy. Sales, though, have stumbled this summer as a supply crunch has elevated average home prices nationwide, making homes too expensive for some would-be buyers.
The Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors has yet to release July housing numbers. In June, however, closed sales were up 5% across the Baton Rouge area and inventory continued to shrink.
