The pace of new single-family home sales in the U.S. dropped 7.6 percent from an upwardly revised annual rate of 659,000 sales in July to an annual rate of 609,000 sales in August but remains 20.6 percent higher than the rate of sales at same time last year (505,000) and the second fastest annual pace of since January of 2008.
That being said, the current pace of sales is roughly half the record-high rate for this time of the year (1,255,000), as set in August of 2005, and is back below its long-term average (650,000) having broken through in July for the first time in nearly a decade.
In terms of inventory, the number of new single-family homes for sale across the county is now 235,000, up 1.7 percent from the month before and 8.3 percent higher versus the same time last year.
The pace of new single-family home sales in the West (162,000), which was the only region to record a month-over-month increase in August, was up 8.0 percent from July and 35 percent higher versus the same time last year.
Data is from the US Department of Commerce, can be found on the US Census site.