New Home Sales Rise, But Miss Expectations

(RTTNews) - New home sales rose in September, though the increase was helped by revisions to figures from the previous month. The rate of sales came in below what economists had expected.

Data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce showed that new home sales rose 3.1 percent to an annual rate of 593,000. Economists had expected a rate of 601,000. The result was 29.8 percent higher than last year.

August's figure was revised notably lower from the rate of 609,000 that was originally reported.

Home prices advanced in September. According to the Commerce Department, the median price of new homes climbed 6.7 percent compared to August's level, rising to $313,500. Prices were 1.9 percent higher than last year.

Earlier this month, a separate report showed that existing home sales, a measure of sales of previously owned homes, jumped by 3.2 percent in September. This took the figure to an annual rate of 5.47 million, well above the figure economists had expected.