PARAMOUNT MORTGAGE - LENDER'S BLOG

US new home sales edged higher in April

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Yahoo! News reported good news this week for the area's real estate market.

Falling home inventories and an uptick in sales last month could foreshadow a brighter summer for the housing market.

US new home sales edged slightly higher in April and house prices have increased, the government said this week in a report showing modest improvement.

The Commerce Department reported sales of new one-family houses in April rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 352,000 units, a gain of 0.3 percent above the revised March rate of 351,000 units.

Last month's sales rate was 34.0 percent lower than one year ago in April. Compared with January's record low for the data series, begun in 1963 with 329,000 units, sales were up 7.0 percent over the three months.

The new home sales data followed a National Association of Realtors' report Wednesday of an unexpectedly strong 2.9 percent increase in sales of existing homes, the dominant sector in the residential market, as falling prices attracted buyers.

The Commerce Department said the median sales price of new houses in April rose 3.7 percent, to 209,700 dollars, in April from March, but was 14.9 percent lower than a year ago.

The glut of new houses on the market continued to fall as early spring buyers scooped up housing bargains.

Residential construction plunged 4.2 percent, compared with the end of March, and was down 35.4 percent from a year ago to a pace last seen in 1963.

The number of new houses for sale fell to a seasonally adjusted 297,000 units at the end of April, the lowest level since May 2001.

At the current sales rate it would take 10.1 months to buy the entire inventory on the market. That was down from a 10.6-month supply in March and a peak glut at 12.4 months in January.

Link: Home Sales