The seasonally adjusted annual pace of new single-family home sales in the U.S. slipped to 373,000 in August, down 0.3 percent from a revised rate of 374,000 in July, but remain up 27.7 percent versus the 292,000 pace recorded in August of last year.
Annual new home sales in the U.S. have averaged 667,000 since 1963, peaking at 1,283,000 in 2005, bottoming at 306,000 last year.
Preliminary U.S. new home sales (versus pace) in August were estimated to be 31,000 (give or take 7 percent), down from 34,000 in July and the third slowest August on record but up from an August low of 23,000 in 2010. August sales peaked in 2005 with 110,000 new homes sold.
In the West, the pace of new home sales ticked up 0.9 percent versus July, up 64.6 percent on a year-over-year basis.
∙ New Residential Sales: July 2012 [census.gov]
∙ U.S. New Home Sales Pace Jumps 25.3% Year-Over-Year In July [SocketSite]
∙ New Residential Sales Since 1963 [census.gov]
Can you really consider 374,000 to 373,000 as “slipped”? Considering rounding and whatnot, isn’t that flat?