U.S. new-home sales up 3 percent in April

WASHINGTON -- Americans bought more new homes last month, the latest evidence that the U.S. housing market could be starting to recover.

New-home sales increased 3.3 percent in April from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 343,000, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Sales rose sharply in every region of the country but the South.

The gain pushed the annual sales pace to its second-highest level in two years. Economists were encouraged by the increase but cautioned that new homes are still selling at half the rate consistent with healthy markets.

The increase follows other reports this week that suggest steady improvement in housing. Sales of previously occupied homes rose to near a two-year high in April. And Toll Brothers, a key U.S. builder of luxury homes, reported that it returned to profitability in the second quarter.

A pickup in hiring, cheaper mortgages and lower home prices in most markets have made home buying more attractive.

"Housing could be a pleasant surprise this year," said Ellen Zentner, a senior economist at Nomura Securities. She said home construction would likely contribute to overall economic growth this year for the first time since 2005.

Sales of new homes rose 28 percent in April from March in the Midwest and the West, and 7.7 percent in the Northeast. Only in the South did sales fall, by 10.6 percent. The median price rose to $235,700, a slight increase from March.

Toll Brothers said Wednesday that home deliveries and signed contracts on new homes rose in the quarter that ended April 30. Its shares rose more than 2 percent.

The home builder earned $16.9 million, or 10 cents per share, in the latest quarter. A year earlier it lost $20.8 million, or 12 cents per share.

On Tuesday the National Association of Realtors said sales of previously owned homes increased 3.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.62 million. That nearly matched January's sales pace of 4.63 million, which had been the best in two years.

Though new homes represent less than 20 percent of the housing market, they have an outsize impact on the economy.

Each home built creates an average of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000 in tax revenue, according to statistics compiled by the National Association of Home Builders.