New Home Sales, which measure signed contracts on new homes, rose 2.3% in December to a 616,000-unit annualized pace, which was in line with estimates. Note that there was a negative revision to November’s sales that made December’s gain appear a bit bigger.

What’s the bottom line? December saw a slight decline in mortgage rates, so it makes sense that buyer activity moved higher. And while the median price for new homes fell from $459,000 in November to $442,100 in December, this is not the same as a decline in home prices. The median price simply means half the homes sold were above that price and half were below it, and this figure can be skewed by the mix of sales among lower-priced and higher-priced homes.

Looking closely at inventory, there were 461,000 new homes for sale at the end of December, which equates to a 9 months’ supply. However, only 71,000 were completed, with the rest either not started or under construction. The number of completed homes equates to a 1.4 months’ supply, well below a balanced market and showing inventory remains tight.