New Home Sales Rise in August; Jobless Claims Stay Low — Evening Brief – 09.24.26

U.S. new home sales increased in August, while applications for unemployment benefits remained low, according to government reports released Thursday.

Sales of newly built single-family homes ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 684,000, up 6.4% from July’s revised 643,000, the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development reported. July’s figure was revised up from an initially reported 607,000. August sales were 2% below the year-earlier rate of 698,000.

The month-to-month sales gain should be interpreted cautiously. Census reported a margin of error of 19.5 percentage points around the 6.4% change, meaning the estimate does not establish a statistically significant increase.

The number of new homes for sale held at an estimated 483,000 at the end of August, equivalent to 8.5 months of supply at the current sales pace. The median price was $393,700, little changed from July and 5.8% below August 2025. Census also reported wide margins of error for its price comparisons.

Separately, initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 197,000 in the week ended Sept. 19, the Labor Department said. The previous week’s figure was revised up by 2,000 to 198,000. The four-week average declined by 1,750 to 202,250.

Continuing claims rose by 2,000 to 1.719 million in the week ended Sept. 12, and the insured unemployment rate held at 1.1%.