Washington, DC, November 29, 2005--New home sales jumped by 13% in October to a record 1.42 million seasonally adjusted annual rate, the Commerce Department estimated Tuesday.
This is the biggest rise since April 1993.
October sales smashed the previous record of 1.37 million set in July.
The gain was much larger than expected. Economists were looking for sales of about 1.22 million in October.
Sales in September were revised to an increase of 0.9% to 1.26 million units, compared with the initial estimate of a 2.1% gain to 1.22 million units.
Sales in October were up 9% from a year earlier.
The sales figures seem to contradict anecdotal reports that the housing market has cooled dramatically as mortgage rates rise above 6%. But the government cautions that its housing data are extremely volatile and subject to large sampling and other statistical errors.
On Monday, the National Association of Realtors said sales of previously owned homes fell 2.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 7.09. See full story.
In October, the inventory of unsold homes on the market rose by 1.2% to a record 496,000, but this represents only a 4.3-month supply at the torrid October sales pace, down from a 4.7 month pace in the previous month.
The median price of a new home rose 1.6% in October to $231.300. Median prices are up just 0.9% in the past year.
