Washington (AP) – U.S. new-home sales jumped in January from the previous month to the highest level since July 2008, a sign the housing recovery is accelerating.
The Commerce Department says new-home sales rose nearly 16 percent in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 437,000. The percentage increase was the largest in nearly 20 years.
Steady job creation and near record-low mortgage rates are spurring more Americans to buy houses. At the same time, the number of previously occupied homes for sale is at a 13-year low. That shortage creates more demand for new homes.
Still, the increases are coming from depressed levels. New-home sales plummeted to a record low in 2011. And sales are still well below the 700,000 annual level economists consider healthy.
Another report out today shows U.S. home prices rose at a healthy pace in December. Rising sales and a smaller supply of available homes helped push the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index up 6.8 percent.
