By Dina ElBoghdady
Washington Post Staff Writer
November 25, 2009
Sales of newly built homes rose to the highest level in more than a year while the supply of these homes dropped to new lows, according to government data released on Wednesday.
Purchases of single-family homes rose 6.2 percent in October from September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 430,000, the Commerce Department reported. The jump was driven solely by the South, the largest new home sales market in the nation. That region, which includes the Washington area, posted a 23 percent gain while sales in other regions slipped.
The data provides more evidence of the continued, but fragile, recovery in the housing market. The upbeat sales figures add to the pattern of improvement seen in other economic indicators, including a surprising 10.1 percent surge in existing home sales reported earlier this week.
In both cases, much of the sales activity was driven by an $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers that was due to expire Nov. 30. The rush to take advantage of that program, as well as the low prices and low mortgage rates, all played a role in energizing buyers. That tax credit was recently extended until April 30 and expanded to include repeat-buyers.
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