• Sales of new single‐family houses rose 7% in June from May, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 646,000, a 4.5% increase from a year earlier, according to the Commerce Department. Sales in the three previous months were revised downward.
• The median sales price of new houses sold in June 2019 was $310,400, up 2.3% from May and flat from a year earlier.
• The seasonally‐adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of June was 338,000, up 0.6% from May and 9.4% from a year ago.

Despite a positive headline figure, June’s new home sales are a wake-up call for a sector that enjoyed an otherwise solid start to 2019. Sale counts are still ahead of where they were last year, but each of the three previous month’s releases were revised down, inflating the appearance of June’s monthly gain. Prices have leveled off after steadily falling in recent months, a discouraging sign for buyers. The sector isn’t out of the woods: Home construction rates have slowed recently and much of the continued growth of new home sales relies on builders putting up smaller, less expensive homes. New home sales have room to grow, but at a gradual pace. Clearly, it’s important not to glean too much from a single month’s report, given that this series is subject to frequent revisions.