Home Sales Are Up

From AP News:

WASHINGTON - New home sales rose last month at the fastest clip in
more than eight years as buyers eagerly took advantage of bargain
prices - a clear sign, economists said, that the real estate market
finally may be bouncing back.

Historically low interest rates and a federal tax credit for first-
time homeowners also helped push home sales to their highest level
since November, the Commerce Department reported Monday.

While home prices still are falling around the country, sales have
risen for three months in a row. Construction of new homes is at the
busiest level since fall. And home resales rose in June for the third
consecutive month.

"The worst of the housing recession," said David Resler, chief
economist at Nomura Securities, "is now behind us."

As with the overall economy, the "recovery" is likely to be slow and
arduous, he said.

Put in perspective, the sales improvement is modest. The pace of sales
for new homes in June still was 72 percent below the peak of four
summers ago, and there still is an enormous inventory of homes
lingering on the market.

"There's been signs of improvement, but we're a long ways off from
being back to a normal market," said Corey Barton, president of CBH
Homes in Meridian, Idaho.

Sales were up there in June, but Barton stressed, "It wasn't our
biggest jump in eight years."

But there were clear signs the housing market is showing more life
than at any point since the recession began. New home sales for June
clocked in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 384,000. The figure
is up 11 percent from May, and the increase is the largest since
December 2000. Sales were strongest in the Midwest, where they jumped
43 percent from May's total. AP

http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=k6QMAEyt