A massive downward revision to the May sales rate of new single-family homes was not enough to prevent further declines in June, as the sales rate declined 8.1 percent to a 406,000-unit annual pace. The May rate, previously announced as an 18.6 percent month-to-month increase and a new post-recession high, was revised downward to an increase of just 8.3 percent. April's new home sales levels were also revised downward.

Sales of new single-family homes in June fell 8.1 percent to a 406,000-unit annual pace from a May rate that was revised substantially downward, according to a Commerce Department report released July 24. Overall, sales have declined 4.9 percent through the first six months of the year, compared with the same period of 2013.

May's number was revised downward from an initial report of a 504,000-unit annual rate, seasonally adjusted, to an annualized rate of 442,000. The reported 18.6 percent surge in new home sales from April to May was a vast overstatement, as the real increase for that period was actually just 8.3 percent. The 12.3 percent revision brought the May surge down from the best figure in six years to not even the best figure in six months.

The downwardly revised numbers mean that June sales were about even with April – June's 406,000-unit rate is slightly below the 408,000-unit annual pace in April. Sales fell in all four regions, most dramatically in the Northeast, which saw a 20 percent drop from the prior month. Compared to June of last year, new home sales were down 11.5 percent.

Steep price increases in the past two years continue to put new homes out of reach for some buyers. The $273,500 median price of a new home in June is 17.6 percent higher than two years earlier, and 22 percent more than the June median price for an existing home. The average sales price was $331,400, and the seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of June was 197,000, a supply of 5.8 months at the current sales rate.