Housing Bubble
New home sales rose 3.5 percent in December
Sales of new one-family houses in December
2002 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,082,000, according
to
estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and
the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 3.5
percent above the revised November rate of 1,045,000 and is 10.5 percent
above the December 2001 estimate of 979,000.
The median sales price of new houses sold in December 2002 was $186,400; the average sales price was $238,500. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of December was 338,000. This represents a supply of 3.8 months at the current sales rate.
In 2002, there were 976,000 houses sold compared with 908,000 houses sold during 2001. This is the higest figure recorded by the Commerce Department and establishes a new record. It represents an increase of 7.5 percent.
