Year-to-date, actual new-home sales for the first half of the year were down 11.9 percent from the same period during last year?EUR??,,????'???s record year in new home sales.

?EUR??,,????'??The slowdown reported today, coupled with the downward revisions of the previous two months, indicates that we are well into the predicted cooling down process,?EUR??,,????'?? said Michael Carliner, an economist at NAHB. ?EUR??,,????'??We expect this to continue as the impact of recent increases in interest rates is fully reflected in sales.?EUR??,,????'??

Three of four regions across the country posted a decrease in pace of new homes sales in June. Sales were down in the Northeast by 11.3 percent, in the Midwest by 7.9 percent and in the South by six percent. The sales rate in the West was up by 8.2 percent for the month. All regions reported substantially lower sales on a year-to-date basis.

The inventory of new homes for sale rose to 566,000 units at the end of June, a 6.1 months?EUR??,,????'??? supply at the current sales pace. Almost all of the increase was for-sale units that were permitted but not yet started, which represented nearly 20 percent of the inventory level.