Sales of Single-Family Houses Climb in August

Sales of new single-family houses in August 2014 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 504,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.  This is 18.0 percent (±16.3%) above the revised July rate of 427,000 and is 33.0 percent (±21.7%) above the August 2013 estimate of 379,000.

The median sales price of new houses sold in August 2014 was $275,600; the average sales price was $347,900. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of August was 203,000. This represents a supply of 4.8 months at the current sales rate.

New Residential Sales data for September 2014 will be released on Friday, October 24, 2014, at 10:00 A.M. EDT.

These statistics are estimated from sample surveys. They are subject to sampling variability as well as nonsampling error including bias and variance from response, nonreporting, and undercoverage. Estimated average relative standard errors of the preliminary data are shown in the tables. Whenever a statement such as “2.5 percent (±3.2%) above” appears in the text, this indicates the range (-0.7 to +5.7 percent) in which the actual percent change is likely to have occurred.

 All ranges given for percent changes are 90-percent confidence intervals and account only for sampling variability. If a range does not contain zero, the change is statistically significant. If it does contain zero, the change is not statistically significant; that is, it is uncertain whether there was an increase or decrease. The same policies apply to the confidence intervals for percent changes shown in the tables. Changes in seasonally adjusted statistics often show irregular movement. It takes three months to establish a trend for new houses sold.

Preliminary new home sales figures are subject to revision due to the survey methodology and definitions used. The survey is primarily based on a sample of houses selected from building permits. Since a “sale” is defined as a deposit taken or sales agreement signed, this can occur prior to a permit being issued. An estimate of these prior sales is included in the sales figure. On average, the preliminary seasonally adjusted estimate of total sales is revised about three percent. Changes in sales price data reflect changes in the distribution of houses by region, size, etc., as well as changes in the prices of houses with identical characteristics.

At the same time, data released by the Commerce Department showed that new home sales soared 18 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted yearly rate of 504,000 units.

This represents a second monthly increase since the June slowdown and puts last month’s sales at its “highest level since May 2008,” Tulsa World said.

Over the past 12 months, sales of new homes have increased by 33 percent. Meanwhile, median prices for new homes reached $275,600, up by almost 8 percent from last year. 

The report attributed the sales hike due to closed transactions in the West, which rose by 50 percent in August compared with July’s figures, and in the Northeast, which saw a 29.2 percent rise in home sales.  

The rebound in home sales is definitely welcome news to real estate agents and brokers across the country. Now that demand is slowly climbing up again, realtors have less to worry about as most of them aim to reach year-end or monthly quotas. 

Real estate agents can take advantage of the uptrend by using disruptive technologies created by Realbiz Media Group, Inc. RBIZto increase their sales.

Realbiz Media is a Florida-based digital media company that develops proprietary video marketing software that agents and their brokers can use to promote their virtual tour listings online.

Its Virtual Tour Program allows real estate sellers to create virtual tours and presentationsthat are optimized for mobile viewing and could be syndicated through social media for only $29.95 a month.

The program features a video search engine optimization (VSEO) tool that automatically generate meta tags and descriptions for virtual tours and listings that agents have uploaded to the platform so that they would be found easily by consumers online.

The program also has tools for creating QR codes, e-flyers, and seller reports as bonus features.

Realbiz Media’s platforms, applications and web sites feature social integration, which allow agents to cross-publish their posts to social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

To learn more about Realbiz Media and its products, contact sales@realbizmediagroup.comor call 1.888.REAL.BIZ (888.732.5249).