Steel Markets
September 26, 2017
New Home Sales Slide in August
Written by Sandy Williams
New home sales slipped again in August after tumbling 9.4 percent in July, according to the latest report by Commerce. Sales of new single-family homes fell 3.4 percent from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 560,000. The rate was 1.2 percent below the August 2016 estimate of 567,000.
Some of the decline can be attributed to the impact of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma on sales in the South. Approximately 14 percent of the nation’s single-family housing permits were in the FEMA disaster area. Regionally, the South showed the largest decline for new home sales in August, falling 4.7 percent from July. Sales were down 2.7 percent in the West and 2.6 percent in the Northeast. There was no change in sales in the Midwest.
