New Home Sales Up 9.6%

The U.S. Department of Commerce reported Wednesday that sales of new homes rose 9.6 percent in July, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 433,000. That’s above the revised June rate of 395,000, but 13.4 percent below July 2008’s rate of 500,000.
Home sales in the South rose 16.2 percent in July over June. Only the Northeast fared better, with home sales up 32.4 percent in the same month-over-month period.

June New Homes Report Rise

Sales of newly built single-family homes rose 11 percent in June to an annualized rate of 384,000, according to a report released Monday by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

New Homes $ales Up 3rd Month in Row

Sales of new single family homes increased by 11% in June. Making a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 384,000 units. This according to the U.S. Commerce Department. This increase marks a third consecutive month of improved sales activity.

“This is good news that indicates the nation’s housing market may be in the process of turning the corner,” said Joe Robson, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Tulsa, Okla. “That said, the key to moving us out of recession is to get Americans back to work. Congress and the Administration should know that housing can be a significant generator of good jobs. We need to make housing a priority in the recovery process, otherwise we could continue to bounce along a bottom for some time.”

New Home Sales Increase Almost 5%

New home sales purchases in the U.S. unexpectedly rose 4.7 % in February from a record low as plummeting prices and cheaper mortgage rates lured some buyers.

Sales increased 4.7 percent to an annual pace of 337,000 after a 322,000 rate in January, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. The median sales price fell 18 percent from February 2008, the biggest year-on-year drop since records began in 1964, and the glut of properties on the market dwindled.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Jonathan Basile, an economist at Credit Suisse Holdings USA in New York, who had forecast sales would rise. “Lower prices and mortgage rates are starting to get buyers back. We still have a lot of supply to absorb before things get back to normal.”

Bloomberg