May New Home Sales Off 1.6%

Washington, DC, June 26, 2007--New home sales were off 1.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 915,000 units in May, to a lower-than-expected level while prices climbed from April, according to a report from the Commerce.

Economists expected sales to fall to 930,000 units.

Sales in February, March and April were revised down by 84,000 units. April's sales pace was revised to 930,000 units from the 981,000 units initially reported, a 12.5% rise from March's downwardly revised 827,000 annual pace. This is still the largest sales increase since September 1993.

New home sales are down 15.8% in the past year. Inventories of unsold homes fell 1.1% to 536,000, representing a 7.1-month supply at the May sales pace.

The supply of inventory peaked at 8.3 months in March. Inventories of unsold homes are down 5% in the past year. The median sales prices fell 0.9% in the past year to $236,100.