US new home sales cool in April

WASHINGTON: Sales of new US homes experienced a sharp slowdown in April after a record rate in March, with prices also falling, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

The supply of new homes also showed signs of increasing somewhat in an otherwise tight market the has left homebuyers squeezed for choice.

Sales of new single-family houses fell to an annual rate of 569,000, seasonally adjusted, an 11.4 percent drop from March. Sales for the prior month were revised sharply upward to 642,000 -- the highest level since October 2007.

Analysts had been expecting a drop of only 5.8 percent in the latest month.

The month-to-month decline was in large part driven by falling sales in the western United States, which tumbled 26.3 percent to 126,000, the lowest level for the region in 18 months.

Even with the pullback, total sales still were 0.5 percent higher than the same month in 2016.

The average sales price also fell 4.4 percent to $368,300 last month, after rising in the two prior months. The median price also fell 3.0 percent to $309,200.

The estimated number of new homes for sale at the end of April stood at 268,000, matching March, the highest since July 2009.

At the current sales pace, that represented a supply of 5.7 months, the highest since September 2015. That was up from 4.9 months in March, and 5.2 in January and February.

The number of new homes for sale but still under construction stood at 157,000, the highest level since October 2008, the start of the global financial crisis.