April New Home Sales Rise 2.3% to 454,000 Annual Rate

WASHINGTON — Sales of new single-family houses rose 2.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 454,000 in April, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

The accelerated sales pace followed a revised rate of 444,000 in March, originally reported as 417,000.

The April rate was larger than the 425,000 pace projected by economists polled by Thomson Reuters. The sales rate was 29% above the April 2012 estimate of 352,000.

New home sales were mixed regionally, but strong in the most active markets. Sales fell 16.7% in the Northeast and 4.8% in the Midwest, but jumped 10.8% in the West and 3% in the South.

The median sales price of new houses rose to a record high $271,600 in April, 8.3% above the revised March median price of $250,700. On a year-over-year basis, the median price climbed 14.9% above the $236,400 level from April 2012.

The seasonally adjusted estimate of new homes for sale at the end of April was 156,000, an increase from March's revised supply of 151,000 and the most since there were 158,000 new homes for sale in October 2011. The April figure represents a supply of 4.1 months at the current sales rate.

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