New Home Sales, which measure signed contracts on new homes, fell 2.5% from May to June to a 697,000-unit annualized pace. However, this decline follows the large uptick in May and signed contracts for May and June are at the highest levels over the last year. 

What’s the bottom line? The lack of existing homes for sale is heightening the demand for new homes, but the available supply of new construction remains below healthy levels. Of the 432,000 new homes for sale at the end of June, only 72,000 were completed, with the rest either not started or under construction. This ongoing dynamic of high demand relative to low supply will continue to be supportive of home prices, making homeownership a good investment and opportunity for building wealth through real estate.

On that note, the median sales price was $415,400, which was down from $432,700 a year ago. Despite what the media might suggest, this figure is not the same as appreciation but represents the mid-price and can be skewed by the mix of sales among lower-priced and higher-priced homes. Multiple appreciation reports show that home prices are rising again, as noted below.