New home sales were down again in July, declining by 2.4 percent from June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 412,000 units.  But the June rate of 406,000 units reported last month was revised upward significantly to 422,000 units. July sales were 12.3 percent above the annual rate in July 2013 of 367,000 units.

On an unadjusted basis there were 37,000 new homes sold in July compared to 40,000 in June and 33,000 in July 2013.   Sales for 2014 through the end of July totaled 264,000 compared to year-to-date sales a year earlier of 269,000.

On a seasonally adjusted annual basis the Northeast saw sales slip by 30.8 percent from June and 43.8 percent from a year earlier.  Sales in the Midwest declined 8.8 percent month over month and 1.9 percent year-over-year.  The West was also down for both periods, by 15.2 and 3.3 percent respectively. 

The South was the sole region with positive numbers in July, up 8.1 percent from June and 33.2 percent from July 2013 and the region drove the national increase in sales.  Sales in the South on a seasonally adjusted annual basis were 253,000 and on an unadjusted basis 23,000.  Both numbers represented significantly more than half of all sales in the U.S. in July.

The median price of a new house sold in July was $269,800 compared to a median of $262,200 one year earlier.  The average price in July was $339,100, up from $329,900 in July 2013.

There were an estimated 205,000 newly constructed homes for sale at the end of July compared to 197,000 at the end of June and 171,000 in July 2013.  The current inventory of new homes is estimated at a 6.0 month supply at the current absorption rate.

Homes that sold during July were on the market a median of 3.5 months compared to 3.4 months in June and 3.7 months in July 2013.