by Sales also declined 6.4% from March, suggesting consumers are unwilling to move into new construction that is costing more than it did a year ago
WASHINGTON — Sales of newly built single-family homes were 11.3% below April 2025 and 6.2% below March 2026, according to figures released by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Thursday.
The numbers suggest consumers are reluctant to invest in new homes at a time when it is still challenging to sell their existing home and when home prices remain high, or at least higher than they were last year at this time.
Such a slowdown undoubtedly will continue to impact furniture sales as people won’t need to furnish homes with new layouts and room types than they have in their current home or apartment.
New home sales totaled 622,000, down from 701,000 in April 2026 and down from 663,000 in March.
The median sales price of new houses sold in April 2026 was $422,500, up 2.2% from $413,600 in April 2025 and 8% above $391,000 in March. The average sales price of new homes sold in April was $508,000, down 1.1% from $514,300 in April 2025 and .7% above $505,200 in March.
By the end of April, there were 489,000 new homes for sale, down 2.2% from 500,000 in April 2025 and 1.7% above 481,000 in March.
The report said this represents a 9.4-month supply based upon the current rate of sale, which is 9.3% above 8.6 months in April 2025 and 8% above 8.7 in March.
A higher supply of inventory would appear to be good for buyers as it would potentially create more competitively priced homes. However, rising material costs and other pricing pressures have created an environment of higher-priced housing, which in turn causes consumers to rethink how much they plan to spend on appliances, furniture and even upgrades that could push the price of a new home up even further.
The impact remains to be seen, but will undoubtedly show up in future retail sales reports in the coming weeks and months.
By region, activity was as follows:
+ In the Northeast, there were 27,000 new homes sold, down 12.9% from both April 2025 and March.
+ In the Midwest, there were 66,000 new homes sold, down 21.4% from April 2025 and down 25% from March.
+ In the South, there were 370,000 new homes sold, down 14.7% from April 2025 and down 9.8% from March.
+ In the West, there were 159,000 new homes sold, up 4.6% from April and up 18.7% from March.
