New home sales in November 2011 were up 1.6% from the previous month at an annualized pace of 315,000. This pace was 9.8% higher than last November’s estimate of 287,000.

Home prices were down as the median sales price was $214,100 in November, down from $222,600 in October along with the average sales price, which was down from $253,200 to $242,900 in November. The amount of new homes for sale at the end of November was 158,000, which is 1.3% less than the previous month.

This rate represents a 6.0 month supply at the current sales rate, which is 3.2% less than October’s supply and 26.8% less than November 2010. By region, the South had the largest percentage increase in home sales, up 12.9% from the previous month. The Midwest followed with a 7.5% increase while both the Northeast and West experienced double-digit declines, down 26.3% and 16.9% respectively.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development