Sales of new homes jumped in April, climbing 14.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted rate of 504,000 last month, up from 439,000 in March, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
Sales were up 47.8 percent over the same period a year ago.
The surge was driven by the home buyer tax credit, which expired April 30. “We got two solid increases in March and April,” says Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo. “We may see sales fall to a record low in the aftermath of the tax credit program, but any fallback should be short-lived.”
The government estimates that there were 211,000 new homes on the market at the end of April, a five-month inventory.
Source: CNNMoney.com, Hibah Yousuf (05/26/2010)
