The following is the unedited transcript of the news release from the U.S. Department of Commerce.


Sales of new one-family houses in December 2007 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 604,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 4.7 percent (±12.1%)* below the revised November rate of 634,000 and is 40.7 percent (±7.8%) below the December 2006 estimate of 1,019,000.

The median sales price of new houses sold in December 2007 was $219,200; the average sales price was $267,300. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of December was 495,000. This represents a supply of 9.6 months at the current sales rate.

An estimated 774,000 new homes were sold in 2007. This is 26.4 percent (±2.5%) below the 2006 figure of 1,051,000.



Available at:

http://www.census.gov/const/newressales.pdf