US New Home Sales Slip to 676,000 Annual Rate in September; Median Price $400,400
Sales of newly built single-family homes decreased 0.6% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 676,000, following a downwardly revised August estimate of 680,000, according to data released on October 27, 2026, by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the US Census Bureau. The pace was 5.3% lower than the 714,000 rate a year earlier. A new home sale is counted when a sales contract is signed or a deposit is accepted, and the home may be in any stage of construction.
New single-family home inventory in September fell to 476,000 units, down 1.0% from 481,000 in August and down 2.3% from a year ago, representing an 8.4 months' supply at the current sales pace. Completed, ready-to-occupy inventory stood at 111,000 homes. The median sales price of new homes sold in September was $400,400, up 3.9% from August but down 3.9% from $416,800 a year earlier; the average sales price was $472,800.
Bill Owens, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder and remodeler from Worthington, Ohio, said affordability remains a significant hurdle for prospective home buyers, and that builders continue to offer incentives and adjust pricing, but elevated mortgage rates and high home prices are limiting the number of households that can afford to purchase a home. Danushka Nanayakkara-Skillington, NAHB's assistant vice president for forecasting and analysis, said the decline is consistent with softer builder sentiment and highlights the continued sensitivity of housing demand to financing costs, adding that sustained improvements in mortgage rates and affordability would help maintain demand.
Regionally, on a year-to-date basis, new home sales were up 2.3% in the Northeast and down 0.5% in the Midwest, 1.3% in the South and 9.2% in the West. According to Reuters, the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.32% last week in Freddie Mac data, and economists had forecast September new home sales of about 650,000 units, making the actual result better than expected.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Washington州Redmond一处新建住宅开发项目（资料图）。照片：Bri，CC BY-SA 4.0，经Wikimedia Commons。 / A new housing development in Redmond, Washington (file photo). Photo: Bri, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
