Sales of new single-family houses in December 2015 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 544,000, according to estimates released jointly by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Census Bureau. This is 10.8 percent above the revised November rate of 491,000 and is 9.9 percent above the December 2014 estimate of 495,000.
The rate is also 7.5 percent above the aggregate estimate of analysts of 506,000, according to Morningstar.
The median sales price of new houses sold in December 2015 was $288,900; the average sales price was $346,400. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of December was 237,000. This represents a supply of 5.2 months at the current sales rate.
An estimated 501,000 new homes were sold in 2015. This is 14.5 percent above the 2014 figure of 437,000.
Estimates of houses sold and for sale by stage of construction are now available on a seasonally adjusted basis as well as not seasonally adjusted basis. Historic seasonally adjusted data will be available back to January 1999 at http://www.census.gov/construction/nrs/historical_data/.