Two consecutive months of declining sales for new single-family homes ended in April with a 6.4 percent increase over the March rate. The 433,000-unit seasonally adjusted annual rate is 4.2 percent less than the April 2013 sales pace, however, as the market remains sluggish following the slow winter.

New single-family home sales reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 433,000 in April, a 6.4 percent increase from the March rate of 407,000, which was revised upward from an earlier reading of 384,000 units. The April figure is 4.2 percent below sales in April 2013, according to a May 23 Census Bureau report.

Forty-one thousand new homes were sold in April on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, compared to 39,000 in March. There were 192,000 homes available for sale at the end of the reporting period, a 3.5-year high. Total inventory reached a 5.3-month supply at the current sales rate, compared to a 5.6-month supply of 191,000
units in March.

The median price of a new home sold in April was $275,800, and the average price was $320,100; the median and average prices of home sold were $279,000 and $337,000 one year earlier.

New home sales slowed 26.7 percent from March in the Northeast, and fell 31.3 percent below sales one year earlier. Sales soared in the Midwest, however, increasing 47.4 percent above the previous month and 35.5 percent year-over-year. Sales in the South grew 3.1 percent month-over-month but fell 9.6 percent below the level reached the previous April. Sales in the West were unchanged from March and 6.1 percent lower year-over-year.