Sales of new US homes were far lower than expectations in May, government data showed on Wednesday, with the median sales price of properties virtually unchanged from a year ago.
Sales of new single-family houses dropped by 7.3 percent from April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 580,000, said the Department of Commerce.
The annualized rate was 6.8 percent below the same period a year ago.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal had expected that figure to come in at 632,000, after weak April data.
US mortgage rates have risen since the launch of the US-Israel war on Iran in late February, which has fuelled inflation due to a surge in energy prices.
The most popular 30-year mortgages are currently being offered at an average rate of 6.47 percent, according to the housing finance giant Freddie Mac. They remain about 0.4 percentage points lower than a year ago.
Rates had fallen below the symbolic six-percent figure just before the launch of the war, before surging once more.
The median sales price of new homes in May was $424,900, up slightly from the month before but virtually the same as a year ago, the Commerce Department said.
Data on the sales of existing homes in May, released earlier this month, showed growth in that sector, with sales up 3.2 percent year-on-year to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.2 million, according to the National Association of Realtors.
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