New-home Sales Drop 6.8% In June To Slowest Pace In Seven Months

Sales of new single-family homes in the U.S. fell 6.8% in June to an annual rate of 482,000, the slowest pace in seven months, with drops in three of four regions, the government reported Friday. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a sales rate of 550,000 in June, compared with an original estimate of 546,000 for May. On Friday the U.S. Commerce Department revised May's rate to 517,000. Economists caution over reading too much into a single monthly report. A confidence interval of plus-or-minus 12.5% for June's drop of 6.8% shows that the government isn't sure whether the sales pace rose or fell last month. June's sales pace was up 18.1% from a year earlier, showing improvement, though rates still remain below long-term averages. The median price of new homes, meanwhile, fell 1.8% to $281,800 compared with June 2014. The supply of new homes was 5.4 months at June's sales pace, compared with 4.8 months in May.