In contrast to a recent batch of largely upbeat U.S. housing data, the Commerce Department released a report Wednesday morning showing that new home sales unexpectedly decreased in the month of August.
The report said new home sales edged down 0.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 373,000 in August from the revised July rate of 374,000.
Economists had expected new home sales to climb to an annual rate of 380,000 from the 372,000 rate originally reported for the previous month.
Despite the unexpected monthly decrease, the Commerce Department noted that new home sales are still up by 27.7 percent compared to August of 2011.
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May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.