New home sales surged in April to their highest rate in two years, as purchasers took advantage of expiring tax credits for new and repeat homebuyers.
Sales of new, single-family homes were up nearly 15 percent for the month, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 504,000, according to figures released by the Census Bureau this morning. It’s the highest sales rate reported since May 2008, which matched April’s figure, and represent a nearly 48 percent annual increase over the April 2009 rate of 341,000. New home sales have now risen sharply for two consecutive months after generally weakening since last summer. Sales bottomed out at an estimated rate of 338,000 in February, their lowest since the collapse of the housing market, before rebounding to 439,000 in March, then increasing in the current survey. The Read more…