Sales of new homes across the United States recorded a slight increase in February, though the Northeast showed the least activity compared to other regions. This data was published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The report stated that sales of new single-family houses in February reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 676,000. This was an increase from the revised January rate of 664,000 and represented a 5.1% rise from the 643,000 sales recorded in February 2024.
The Southern, Western, and Midwestern regions accounted for most of the new home sales with figures of 438,000, 140,000, and 76,000, respectively. Conversely, the Northeast reported only 22,000 new homes sold, marking a significant 48.8% decrease from the previous year.
The national median price for new houses in February 2025 was $414,500, while the average sales price was $487,100. The seasonally adjusted estimate at the month’s end was 500,000 new houses available for sale, enough for about 8.9 months at the current sales pace.
Recently, a report by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) revealed similar trends for existing homes, noting a downturn in Northeast sales too. Existing home sales nationwide rose 4.2% from January, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.26 million, although they slipped 1.2% year-over-year. In the Northeast, existing home sales decreased by 2.0% from January but saw a 4.2% increase from February 2024. The median price for an existing home in the Northeast rose to $464,300, a 10.4% rise from the previous year.
Nationally, the median price for existing homes in February was $398,400, increasing 3.8% from the previous year.
In mortgage-related news, Freddie Mac reported a modest rise in the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage to 6.67% as of March 20. This rate, however, is a slight drop from 6.87% noted a year ago.
