Some relief may be in store for buyers and sellers spooked by gloomy housing market reports. Sales of new homes climbed 6.6 percent in September. The figures released by the government on Wednesday revealed the second straight month of gains, yet still below the pace when a tax credit existed.
Sales of new single-family homes rose 6.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 307,000, which is stronger than the 300,000 that economists expected in a MarketWatch-compiled poll.
On Monday, a National Association of Realtors® report showed sales of existing homes also were stronger than expected, rising 10 percent, and the two reports lend support to some economists who believe housing demand hit a bottom in late summer. Existing-home sales rose again in September, affirming that a sales recovery has begun, according to NAR®.
Existing-home sales which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, jumped 10.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.53 million in September from a downwardly revised 4.12 million in August,
