US new home sales jump in July

According to the Department of Commerce, in seasonally adjusted terms, sales of new single-family homes increased at a month-on-month pace of 10.6% in July to reach an annual rate of 739,000.

Economists had forecast a reading of 630,000.

That was on top of an upwards revision to the estimated annual pace for June from a preliminary reading of 617,000 to 668,000.

In terms of months' worth of sales, the inventory of homes available to be sold declined from 8.4 in June to 7.5.

The median sales price meanwhile rose from $416,700 in the month before to $429,800.

If sustained the pace of sales in July would offset the weakness in existing home sales and housing starts during the same month, said Nancy Vanden Houten at Oxford Economics.

"New home sales are a particularly volatile series, and we can't rule out a downward revision or a sizable decline in sales in August," she added.

"That said, we expect new home sales to be supported over the balance of 2024 by lower interest rates and a healthy supply of new homes for sale."