New home sales unexpectedly jump in March
(Dan Zen/Flickr)
New home sales unexpectedly jumped in March, according to the Department of Commerce.
Sales of new single-family houses rose 5.8% at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 621,000, the highest since last August.
Economists had forecast that new home sales fell by 1.4% at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 584,000, according to Bloomberg.
Higher housing supply would ease the shortage of affordable housing for buyers.
"Strong demand from homebuyers and very tight supply conditions in the overall housing market are fueling demand for new homes," said Tian Liu, the chief economist at Genworth Mortgage Insurance, in a note. "Prices on new homes are stabilizing, suggesting more affordable homes are coming to the market, which will help builders capture more demand from first-time homebuyers."
The National Association of Homebuilders' confidence reading remained near an 11-year high in April, but builders continued to cite regulatory costs and land shortages as challenges.
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