Sales of new single family homes rose 1.7 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.03 million units, the Commerce Department reported recently. It was the third time this year that new-home sales went above the million-unit mark.
“Today’s reports on both new and existing home sales in April are very reassuring that housing continues to be a pillar of strength for our economy. These numbers provide solid evidence of the confidence that buyers continue to have in homes as investments,” Denise Wallace, president of the 1,600-member Northeast Florida Builders Association. “The news also bodes well for the remainder of the spring home buying season.
“Sales of both new and existing homes were slightly above their first quarter averages in April, and the fundamentals of this housing market continue to exhibit remarkable strength looking forward,” noted Wallace. “With inventories of unsold new homes remaining at quite a healthy level, with impressive house-price performance on a year-over-year basis, and with our latest surveys indicating significant optimism among home builders, we’re clearly headed for a great second quarter. When you add in the terrific interest rate picture, all systems are ‘go’ for home sales — we are definitely on track to equal or surpass the record home sales of 2002.”