New home sales fell from 302,000 in July to 295,000 in August. That was the fourth consecutive monthly decline. The Briefing.com consensus expected new home sales to fall to 293,000.
As expected, the drop in new home sales was at odds with the existing home sales data. Existing home sales increased modestly in August.
A downward trend in residential construction has helped flatten monthly new home supply levels since April. Inventories dropped from 295,000 in April to 173,000 in August, even as sales fell from 316,000 to 295,000. This has kept the monthly supply at roughly 6.6 months for the past five months.
The median new home price dropped 7.7% in August, which is the largest monthly decline since August 2009. As buyers look toward distressed properties in the existing home space for good deals, builders are being pressured to drop prices in order to attract demand.






