By Jann Swanson | Mortgage News Daily
New home sales increased only slightly in September, up 0.2 percent over August, bringing the annual rate of those sales to 467,000. Sales were up 17.0 percent from the September 2013 pace of 399,000 units.
Perhaps bigger news in today’s joint release from the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development was the revision to the August new home sales number. The initial report of those sales indicated a very significant 18 percent increase over July’s number, sending sales to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 504,000 and over the half-million mark for the first time since May 2008. The estimate was well over analysts’ expectations; the consensus had been 430,000 units. Turns out the analysts were closer to the mark than the government agencies which today downgraded the August estimate to an annual rate of 466,000.
