The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. new-home sales climb 3.3% in April
The South is the grim exception, where sales dropped 10.6 percent.
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, where sales fell 10.6 percent.
Builders still face a tough environment, especially in metro Atlanta. They are struggling to compete with deeply discounted foreclosures and short sales — when lenders allow homes to be sold for less than what’s owed on the mortgage.
Overall, the gain in new home sales pushed the annual 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 bers, a local real estate tracking firm, there were 19,337 homes sold in metro Atlanta during the first quarter of 2012, compared to 15,615 during the same period in 2011.
Nationally, sales of previously occupied homes rose 3.4 percent in April from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.62 million, the National Association of Realtors said. That nearly matches January’s pace of 4.63 million — the best in two years. It is still well below the nearly 6 million that most economists equate with healthy markets.
A pickup in hiring, cheaper mortgages and lower home prices 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.
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 the National Association of Home Builders.