Washington, DC, June 24--New home sales rose 2.1% in May to a 1.298 million seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to the Commerce Department.
May sales were the second highest on record, below the 1.31 million unit pace set last October.
Economists were expecting sales to rise 0.3% to a 1.320 million annual rate.
Sales in April were revised to down 0.1% to 1.27 million units, compared with the initial estimate of a 0.2% gain to 1.32 million units.
The number of unsold new homes rose 1.1% in May to 442,000, a 4.2-month supply at the May sales pace.
The median sales prices of a new home rose 2.5% year-over-year to $217,000.
New-home sales jumped in the Midwest, rising 22.9% to a record 268,000. In the West, sales rose 1.7%. to 361,000. Sales fell 0.8% in the South to 595,000 and plunged about 24.5% in the Northeast to 74,000.
