New Home Sales, which measure signed contracts on new homes, rose 5.8% in November to a 640,000-unit annualized pace, coming in much stronger than the 4.7% decline that was expected. There was a negative revision to October’s sales that made November’s gain appear a bit bigger, but even when factoring this in sales were up 1.3%.

The median home price for new homes was $471,200 but remember this is not the same as appreciation. It 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.

What’s the bottom line? These sales figures were from November when rates were higher, so contract signings may continue to pick up. And while sales are now down 15.3% from November of last year, this year’s figure is not so bad considering higher rates, inflation and tight inventory.

Speaking of inventory, there were 461,000 new homes for sale at the end of November, which equates to an 8.6 months’ supply. However, only 64,000 were actually completed, with the rest either not started or under construction. The number of completed homes equates to a 1.7 months’ supply, well below a balanced market.