The new home sales slump has been broken.
The New York Times reports that new home sales increased 3.1 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 593,000 units. The jump comes after three straight months of figures that were revised down by a total of 85,000 units from past estimates. New home sales are volatile and subject to revisions.
Economists had forecast single-family home sales, which account for about 9.8 percent of overall home sales, falling to a rate of 600,000 units last month. “The housing market may not be booming but it is clearly moving forward at a steady pace,” said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pa. “But the big problem is still the lack of inventory.”
