New Home Sales Up 9.4 Percent in February

WASHINGTON D.C. - Sales of new homes soared 9.4 percent in February, the largest jump in more than four years, according to a Commerce Department report released Thursday.

New single-family home sales rose to a 1.226 million unit annual rate last month from an upwardly revised pace of 1.121 million in January, the Commerce Department said.

?EUR??,,????'??Builders expected single-family home sales to remain strong,?EUR??,,????'?? said David Wilson president of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). ?EUR??,,????'??In our regular monthly survey of single-family home builders, they indicated that they were solidly optimistic about the coming months, and today's Commerce Department figures reinforce that optimism.?EUR??,,????'??

Sales rose in all four regions of the country. They shot up 20.3 percent in the Northeast, 9.9 percent in the Midwest and 7.4 percent in the West. In the South, which boasts the lion's share of housing activity, sales climbed 9 percent to a record pace of 619,000.

At February's sales pace, the supply of new homes on the market stood at 4.4 months' worth, a decline from January's 4.6 months' supply.

?EUR??,,????'??We expected a late-winter rebound,?EUR??,,????'?? said NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders. ?EUR??,,????'??Demand still outstrips supply in many areas, and buyer demand continues to be driven by favorable market fundamentals - growing employment and household income, new household formations and historically low mortgage rates.

The median sales price of new houses in February rose to a record $230,700 from $210,400 in January.

In a report on Wednesday, the National Association of Realtors said sales of existing U.S. homes dipped 0.4 percent last month, to a still-healthy 5.94 million unit rate.

(Percentages may not add up to 100 due to rounding)