The pace of new single-family home sales in the U.S. ticked up 3.1 percent in August from a July rate which was revised down by 5.6 percent. The preliminary August rate of 593,000 annual sales is 29.8 percent higher than the rate of sales at same time last year (457,000) and the second fastest annual pace since February of 2008.

That being said, the current pace of sales is half the record-high rate for this time of the year (1,244,000), as set in September of 2005, and is back below its long-term average (653,000) having appeared to have broken through in July for the first time in nearly a decade, before being downwardly revised to 629,000.

In terms of inventory, the number of new single-family homes for sale across the county is now 235,000, down 0.4 percent from the month before but 6.3 percent higher versus the same time last year.

The pace of new single-family home sales in the West (147,000), which was the only region to record a month-over-month decline in September, slipped 4.5 percent from August but remains 32.4 percent higher versus the same time last year.

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