Sales of new single-family homes started 2014 with surprising strength, rising 9.6% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 468,000, the fastest pace in more than five years, according to government data released Wednesday. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a January sales rate of 405,000, compared with an originally estimated pace of 414,000 in December. On Wednesday, the government upwardly revised December's pace to 427,000. Home sales in January were up 2.2% from the year-earlier period. The show of resiliency is in the face of home prices and mortgage rates that have trended higher over the past year. Economists had also expected unusually cold winter weather to hit recent sales of new homes. The median sales price of new homes fell 2.2% in January to $260,100, but was up 3.4% from the year-earlier period. The supply of new homes on the U.S. market fell to 4.7 months in January at the current sales pace from 5.2 months in December.
Source MARKETWATCH
Source MARKETWATCH
