The U.S. Department of Commerce reports that new home sales fell 2% in February to 772,000 units. Year-over-year new home sales slump 6.2% in February.
The sales of new homes were affected by the increase in real estate prices and the rebound in mortgage rates.
Meanwhile, the Department of Commerce lowered the number of new home sales in January to 788,000 from the previously reported 801,000 units.
The median price of new homes rose 10.7% in February to $400,600. The inventory of new homes stands at 407,000 units.
Looking at home sales and inventory on the market, it took home sellers 6.3 months to sell their homes out of inventory, up from 6.1 months in January.
According to the Mortgage Bankers’ Association (MBA), the number of mortgage applicants fell 8.1% last week due to rising mortgage rates.
The number of people applying for refinancing loans dropped 14% last week and 54% compared to the same period last year.
The number of home loan applicants fell 2% last week and was down 12% from the same period last year.
The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages for loans up to $647,200 rose to 4.50% from 4.27% a week earlier.