Higher mortgage rates and construction costs pushed new home sales lower in February even as demand remains solid due to a lack of existing home inventory.
Sales of newly built, single-family homes in February fell 2.0% to a 772,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate from a downwardly revised reading in January, according to newly released data by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. New home sales are down 6.2% compared to February 2021.