--US July new single-family home sales +4.9% to 950,000 rate
--US June home sales revised to +2.8% from +1.7%
--US June home sales rate revised to 906,000 from 922,000
--US July new home median price $168,300; June $172,400
--US July new single-family home median price -0.6% from yr ago

By Neil Stempleman
Washington, Aug. 24 (BridgeNews) - Homebuyers in July disregarded the slowing U.S. economy, causing sales of new single-family homes to surge 4.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 950,000 units. Sales were above analysts' median expectation for a pace of 912,000 units. Home sales this year have been exceptionally strong, with actual sales for the first seven months of this year up 7.6% from the same period of last year.
The July sales rate was 7.8% above the year-ago pace of 881,000, and followed a revised 2.8% monthly increase in June to 906,000 units, the departments of Commerce and Housing and Urban Development said Friday. The rise follows a previously reported 2.8% decrease in July housing starts to an annual rate of 1.672 million units.
The July sales rise shows that the housing market continues to be strong despite the softer economic environment, aided in part by low mortgage rates.

REGIONAL BREAKDOWN:
New home sales rose in all regions of the country, led by an 18% jump in the Northeast. Sales rose 6.9% in the Midwest, 4.6% in the West and 2.3% in the South.

WHAT WAS EXPECTED:
The annual sales pace was above the predictions of analysts surveyed by BridgeNews, whose estimates ranged from 900,000 to 925,000 units in July.

OTHER DETAILS:
--An estimated 299,000 new homes were on the market at the end of July, representing a 3.8-month supply at the current sales rate, down from a revised 4.0-month supply at the end of June, initially reported as 3.9 months.
--83,000 new homes were actually sold in July, at a median price of $168,300. The median price was 0.6% above that of a year ago. --The average July sales price was $208,400, up 3.1% from a year ago, the government said.
--For the first seven months of the year, actual new home sales totaled 577,000, up from 536,000 during the comparable year-earlier period.