New-home sales in the US climbed in June for the first time in three months as heavy builder discounting helped offset high mortgage rates and subdued consumer sentiment.
Purchases of new single-family homes increased 1.6% last month to an annualized rate of 628,000, data released Friday by the federal government showed. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicted a 607,000 rate.
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The median sales price fell 2.7% from a year earlier to $398,300, marking the fifth month in the last six of year-over-year declines. June's improved sales likely reflect heavy discounting, as builders continue to offer customers sales incentives and cut prices in order to stoke demand in a difficult market.
Earlier this month, a gauge of builder sentiment returned to the year's low, and this week, D.R. Horton Inc. — the homebuilding giant focusing on starter homes — cut its sales guidance for 2026. Contractors recently have been slowing construction as they try to sell off an oversupply of homes on the market, including "spec homes," which are houses built without a signed contract in hand.
In June, the inventory of new homes for sale fell 3.2% from a year ago to 485,000, Friday's data showed, representing 9.3 months of inventory at the current sales rate.
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Sales in the South, the country's biggest homebuying region, rose 9.9% to 412,000, the highest level since November. Sales also rose in the Northeast and Midwest, while sales in the West declined.
New-home sales are seen as a more timely measurement than purchases of existing homes, which are calculated when transactions close. However, the data are volatile on a monthly basis. The government report showed 90% confidence that the change in new-home sales ranged from a 13.2% decline to a 16.4% gain.
