US new home sales rise in May
Sales of new US single-family homes rose in May, according to figures released on Monday by the Commerce Department.
New home sales were up 6.7% to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 689,000 from a revised rate of 646,000 in April. Economists had been expecting a rate of 667,000. Compared with May 2017, new home sales were up 14.1%.
The median price of a new home was $313,000, down from $318,500 in April, while inventory remained tight in May at 5.2 months compared to 5.4 a year ago.
Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: "The trend in overall new home sales has been flat, more or less, over the past couple of quarters, but the message from the mortgage applications numbers is that sales are likely to drift lower over the summer, thanks to higher mortgage rates and the beginning of a tightening in lending standards."