![]()
- Dollar Trouble, Oil's Bubble Could Derail Recovery
- Why Stronger Chinese Yuan Would Benefit US Investors
- Hewlett-Packard to Acquire 3Com for $2.7 Billion in Cash
- AIG CEO: I Remain 'Totally Committed' to Firm
- CNN Anchor Lou Dobbs Says He is Leaving Network
- A Day on the USS Harry S. Truman
- How the Droid and Google Threaten the GPS Makers
- Commercial Real Estate Near Disaster: Fund Manager
- This Town Will Pay YOU $10,000 to Buy a House
- What to Expect From Disney Earnings?
- HP's Shot Across Cisco's Bow
- USC Football Blog Leads All-Access Space
- Clowning Around At Work
- Ahead of Earnings Disney Restructures Studio
- Nov. 11: Unusual Volume Leaders
- 3 'Clear Sailing' Mid-Caps For Investors: Strategist
- Intimate Apparel Sales Heating Up: Maidenform CEO
- A Day On The USS Harry S. Truman
MOST SHARED
- Hewlett-Packard to Acquire 3Com for $2.7 Billion in Cash
- USC Football Blog Leads All-Access Space
- Dollar Trouble, Oil's Bubble Could Derail Recovery
- Addicted to Easy Money?
- Credit Is Thawing, But Businesses Still Hesitant to Borrow
- Why Stronger Chinese Yuan Would Benefit US Investors
- Oil Tomorrow
- HPQ to Acquire 3Com
Sales of new U.S. homes rose 16.2 percent in April, the sharpest climb in fourteen years, while prices fell a record 11 percent, according to a government report on Thursday that showed home builders taking extraordinary steps to move houses.
Recent New Home Sales Reports |
| Month | Units (annual rate) | % Chg - Period to Period |
| 2006 - Nov | 987k | + 3.68% |
| 2006 - Dec | 1019k | + 3.24% |
| 2007 - Jan | 890k | - 12.66% |
| 2007 - Feb | 856k | - 3.82% |
| 2007 - Mar | 844k | - 1.40% |
| 2007 - Apr | 981k | + 16.23% |
"You have to take this number as an outlier," said CNBC's Senior Economics Reporter Steve Liesman. "You cannot think that we are back to the good old days when it comes to housing."
New single-family home sales rose to an annual rate of 981,000 units from a revised rate of 844,000 in March, the Commerce Department said.
Analysts polled by Reuters were expecting April sales to rise to an 860,000 unit pace from a previously reported rate of 858,000 units in March.
In April, the median sales price of a new home fell $28,500 to $229,100 from $257,600 in March.
There were 538,000 new homes for sale in April, a fall from the 546,000 reported in March. It would take 6.5 months to clear that inventory at the current sales pace, less than the 8.1 months recorded in March.
In related news Thursday, homebuilder Toll Brothers [TOL
Loading...
()
] said its fiscal second-quarter profit fell sharply from the same quarter a year ago -- as it warned earlier in the month -- and the company said it was still uncomfortable giving profit guidance in the face of the contracting housing market.
Thursday's data comes a day ahead of another key report that measures the pace of existing home sales -- which represent 85 percent of the housing market.
Analysts polled by Reuters are expecting April existing home sales to rise to 6.14 million unit pace from the 6.12 million in March when that data is released Friday.
Sales were mostly up across the regions, with the South recording the largest gain at 27.8 percent. The Midwest saw a decline of 4.0 percent while the Northeast was up 3.8 percent and the West was up 8.5 percent.
- Bernard and Ruth Madoff's personal possessions will be auctioned this weekend. Click ahead to see.
- US real estate prices have fallen dramatically, but some places are still doing well. See the best-performing zip codes this year.
- An Italian cashmere maker aims to make profits while creating ideal conditions for his workers.
- Just in time for the holidays, the Triumph company of Japan offers the latest innovation in women’s undergarments.
- The real result of health care reform will be bloated government and higher deficits, says Larry Kudlow.
- Vote and suggest your own, and remember--there's a fine line between a hero and a zero.












