By Xavier Fontdegloria
Purchases of new single-family houses in the U.S. increased in December following four consecutive months of declines. Here are the main takeaways from the Commerce Department's report released Thursday:
--New home sales rose 1.6% in December compared with November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 842,000.
--The reading missed economists expectations polled by The Wall Street Journal, who expected a 4% increase to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 875,000.
--December sales were 15.2% above the same month a year earlier.
--November new home sales were downwardly revised to 829,000 from an earlier estimate of 841,000.
--Monthly new residential sales data is volatile and often revised. December figures came with a margin of error of 15.8 percentage points.
--The median price of a new home was $355,900, up from $329,500 the same month a year earlier.
--The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of December was 302,000. This represents a supply of 4.3 months at the current sales rate.
Write to Xavier Fontdegloria at xavier.fontdegloria@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-28-21 1025ET
