Decade-High New Home Sales Signal Boom in Construction

According to recently released government data, October U.S. sales of new homes have risen unexpectedly, reaching the strongest pace in ten years.

BloombergMarkets reports that single-family home sales in October rose 6.2 percent month over month to a 685,000 annualized pace. This is the highest the rate has been since October of 2007, when it reached a revised rate of 645,000. Additionally, the number of properties sold where home construction had not yet started reached its highest level since January 2007, boding well for residential construction in the coming months.

The data also showed that October purchases in the U.S. South increased to the fastest pace in ten years, showing continued hurricane recovery. The median sale price of homes increased 3.3 percent year over year to $312,800, and the supply of homes at the current sales rate fell to 4.9 months, the lowest since July 2016.

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