Economic Snapshot: New home sales increase over 25 percent year over year

Sales of new single-family houses were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 592,000 in June 2016. This is 3.5 percent above the revised May rate of 572,000 and 25.4 percent above the June 2015 estimate of 472,000.

The median sales price of new houses sold in June 2016 was $306,700 and the average sales price was $358,200. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of June was 244,000, which represents a supply of 4.9 months at the current sales rate.

Consumer confidence

Consumer confidence, which increased in June, was relatively unchanged in July. The index now stands at 97.3, compared to 97.4 last month.

The Present Situation Index increased from 116.6 to 118.3, while the Expectations Index decreased from 94.6 to 83.3.

Consumers stating business conditions are “good” increased from 26.8 percent to 28.1 percent; however, those saying business conditions are “bad” also rose, from 18.3 percent to 19.0 percent. Consumers claiming jobs are “plentiful” declined marginally from 23.2 percent to 23.0 percent; however, those claiming jobs are “hard to get” also decreased, from 23.7 percent to 22.3 percent.

The percentage of consumers expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months decreased from 16.6 percent to 15.9 percent and those expecting business conditions to worsen increased from 11.2 percent to 12.3 percent.

The proportion of consumers expecting more jobs in the months ahead was virtually unchanged at 14.0 percent and those anticipating fewer jobs decreased from 17.7 percent to 17.0 percent. The percentage of consumers expecting their incomes to increase declined from 18.2 percent to 16.6 percent; however, the proportion expecting a decrease also declined, from 11.3 percent to 10.8 percent.