US new-home sales weaken in June

Sales of new US single-family homes fell in June and May sales were much lower than previous reported, the Commerce Department said Friday.

New home sales ran at an annual pace of 482,000 units last month, and May's rate was cut to 517,000 units from the original report of 546,000.

The fresh data dimmed the picture of a strongly surging US housing market, but still showed solid growth overall.

June's pace was 18.1 percent higher than a year ago, and the first six months of the year was 21.2 percent higher than the same period in 2014.

Prices though have weakened. The median home price in June was $281,800, lower than the average of the past year and down from 287,000 a year ago.

Economist Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon macroeconomics said the slower sales numbers for May and June were surprising, noting they did not match the stronger sentiment shown by mortgage applications and data from the homebuilder industry.

"We have to expect a clear rebound in July, and further gains" in the second half of the year, he said.