New home sales up 11 percent from 2011

New home sales figures for February, released today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), indicated 313,000 new homes were sold for the month. This seasonally adjusted rate represents an 11.4 percent increase from February 2011; sales did, however, decrease 1.6 percent from January 2012.

The median sales price of new houses in February 2012 was $233,700; the average sales price was $267,700. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of February was 150,000. This represents a supply of 5.8 months at the current sales rate.

Regionally, the Northeast saw the greatest month-over-month growth in new home sales, recording 24,000 transactions for a 14.3 percent increase from January. The West posted the highest year-over-year growth; February 2012 sales were up 32.8 percent from February 2011.

Despite registering the most new home sales in February (168,000), the South actually saw the greatest decline from the previous month at 7.2 percent. New home sales also dropped 2.4 percent in the Midwest.

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