September New-Home Sales Fall Less Than Expected Amid Strength in Northeast, West

01:53 PM EDT, 10/27/2026 (MT Newswires) -- New-home sales in the US decreased less than projected last month as the Northeast and West logged double-digit percentage gains, while prices rose, official data showed Tuesday. Sales of new single-family homes edged down 0.6% sequentially to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 676,000 in September, the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development said. The consensus was for a larger drop to 651,000 in a Bloomberg poll. Sales jumped 28% month over month in the Northeast and 21% in the West, while the Midwest and South recorded decreases of 7.3% and 6.6%, respectively, official data showed. "New home sales have been more resilient than expected despite the (recent) rise in mortgage rates, but housing market data on balance suggest continued weakness," Oxford Economics Senior US Economist Matthew Martin said in remarks e-mailed to MT Newswires. The median price of new houses sold increased 3.9% sequentially to $400,400 in September, while the average sales price nudged 0.4% higher to $472,800, according to official data. Last week, US government data showed that housing starts dropped to a four-month low last month, while permits continued to trend downwards. Separately, the Mortgage Bankers Association said weekly mortgage applications in the US fell, despite interest rates dropping for the first time in two months. "Higher mortgage rates exacerbate an already unaffordable market for many buyers, which will continue to push the composition of home sales toward lower priced units and weigh on home price appreciation," Martin said Tuesday. Although higher mortgage rates may send prospective homebuyers to the sidelines, they are also likely to make would-be sellers "less enthusiastic" about listing their homes, Martin said. This would likely keep inventories in the resale market "tight and place a floor under home price appreciation," he said.