New Home Sales in December scored a big increase over November’s figures according to a joint Census Bureau, Department of Housing and Urban Development report issued today.  Sales on a seasonally adjusted annual basis increased by 11.6 percent from November.  December sales were estimated at a rate of 481,000 units compared to a November estimate of 431,000 units.  This was a downward revision from the 438,000 units originally reported.  December sales were 8.8 percent above sales in December 2013, estimated at 442,000 units.

On an unadjusted basis there were 34,000 newly constructed homes sold compared to 30,000 the previous month and 31,000 in December 2013.

There were an estimated 435,000 new homes sold over the course of 2014.  This is an increase of 1.2 percent from the 429,000 new home sales in 2013.

At the end of the December there were an estimated 219,000 new homes available for sale, an increase of 5,000 from November.  This is an inventory estimated to require 5.5 months to absorb at the current rate of sales.  The inventory in November represented a 6.0 month supply.

A home sold in December spent a median of 3.1 months on the market.  This sales period is essentially unchanged from both the previous month and a year earlier.

The median price of a new home sold during the month was $298,100 compared to $275,500 in December 2013.  The average sale price in December was $377,800 versus $321,200 the previous year.

Sales in New England soared both on a monthly and an annual basis, up 53.6 percent from November and 72.0 percent from the previous year.  Sales in the Midwest were down for both periods, by 11.5 percent compared to November and 10.0 percent from December 2013.  The South had an increase in new home sales of 17.7 percent for the month and but eked out only a 0.8 percent annual gain.  The West had sales that were higher for the two periods by 3.1 percent and 23.6 percent respectively.