WASHINGTON, July 27 (AFP) - Sales of new US homes slipped in June, the government said Tuesday, a sign that higher mortgage rates may be starting to cool the red-hot housing market.
New home sales fell 0.8 percent from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.33 million, the Conference Board said.
Compared with last year, however, sales were up 11.1 percent.
The middle of the range, or median, new house price rose to 209,900 dollars, up 1.7 percent from May and up 11.7 percent from June 2003.
There were 374,000 new homes for sale, enough to last 3.4 months at the current sales pace. In May, there were 376,000 homes for sale, also sufficient for 3.4 months.
According to mortgage wholesale giant Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional fixed-rate mortgage was 6.29 percent in June, up from 6.27 percent in May.
It was 5.23 percent in June 2003, the lowest since Freddie Mac started tracking mortgage interest rates in 1971.