US new home sales rise 3.3% in April
Sales of newly built homes rose 3.3 percent in April, in another sign that the long-suffering sector was on the road to recovery.
Sales of new homes in the United States rose 3.3 percent in April, in another sign that the country’s long-suffering real estate market was slowly recovering.
Data released today by the Commerce Department showed sales of newly built homes rose at an annual rate of 343,000 last month, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
That was higher than the 335,000 economists had expected.
MarketWatch noted that sales have averaged 344,000 in the past three months, compared with 301,000 in the same period last year, representing a 14 percent increase.
Data released this week has painted a brighter picture for the recovery of the housing sector, which was devastated by the 2008 global financial crisis.
The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that sales of previously owned homes rose 3.4 percent to an annual rate of 4.62 million units in April, which was the highest level since May 2010.
"The recent buoyancy in housing market activity has raised hopes that this beleaguered sector may finally be on the verge of a rebound," Millan Mulraine, senior macro strategist at TD Securities in New York, was quoted by Reuters as saying.
According to the Financial Times, the median price of a new home rose to $235,700 in April, up 0.7 percent month-on-month and 4.9 percent from a year ago.
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