Home Sales Take Biggest Jump in 8 Years

Crucial metric scores biggest jump in 47 years

(AP) - Sales of new homes surged 27% last month, bouncing off the previous month's record low and blowing past expectations as better weather and government incentives boosted sales. In all, new home sales rose to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 411,000 in March, the biggest monthly jump in 47 years, according to the Commerce Department. Economists had expected a more modest increase to 330,000. More»

(NEWSER) - Pending sales of existing US homes soared in April, posting their largest jump since October 2001. Combined with a 3.2% jump in March, the 6.7% increase in April—far more than the forecast 0.5%—suggests a longer-term upward trend, the Wall Street Journal reports. Dipping prices, low interest rates, and the first-time homebuyer tax credit helped account for the increase, analysts said. More»

But prices decline

(NEWSER) - New-home sales took a surprise upward turn in February, the Commerce Department announced today—the first time sales have increased in seven months. But prices continued to tumble. Single-family home sales were up 4.7%, besting analyst expectations of a 2.9% decline. That still left them down 41.1% year-over-year, however. During that year, the median price dropped 18.1%, to $200,900, the Wall Street Journal reports. More»

Everyone was really surprised

(NEWSER) - The housing market had another staggering setback in November, with sales of new and existing homes tumbling while prices took their biggest hit on record, the Wall Street Journal reports. Existing-home sales fell a worse-than-expected 8.6%, while the national median price fell 13.2% to $181,300, the steepest slide since record-keeping began in 1968 and probably since the Great Depression, according to the National Association of Realtors’ chief economist. More»

And there's no bottom in sight

(NEWSER) - The housing industry keeps finding new lows: Today's Case-Shiller price index shows that prices fell in the first quarter to the lowest levels since the crash began, reports the Wall Street Journal . The drop of 4.2%, on top of last quarter's 3.6% drop, is evidence of a "double dip in home prices across much of the nation," says an S&P official. The percentage of homeowners, meanwhile, has fallen to 66.4%, on par with levels in 1998, reports the New York Times . That's down from 69.2% in 2004. More»