US: New home sales down 5.2% to 631K in May vs 670K expected

"Sales of new single-family houses in June 2018 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 631,000," the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly reported on Wednesday.

Key takeaways from the official publication

• This is 5.3 percent below the revised May rate of 666,000, but is 2.4 percent above the June 2017 estimate of 616,000.
• The median sales price of new houses sold in June 2018 was $302,100.
• The average sales price was $363,300.
• The seasonally-adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of June was 301,000.
  • This represents a supply of 5.7 months at the current sales rate.