New Home sales soar by record amount

EDITED ON 5/31/07 (previously did not distinguish new home sales from existing)

This is not a headline from the housing boom of a few years ago, it is from 2 days ago. Sales of new single family homes gained 16.2%, while economists were predicting a paltry 0.2% gain. That is the biggest one-month sales gain since April 1993 (a 16.4%). This is not necessarily positive news, in fact it is quite confusing. While sales increased at a record level, the median price of a new home sold last month fell a record 11.1% to $229,100 from the previous month.

I just passed my real estate licensing exam and have some family in real estate, so this was particularly interesting. I will attempt to figure out what this article means in terms of the current housing market slump in the coming days.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18842917/

http://www.miamiherald.com/163/story/117143.html