US new home sales up in Sept

WASHINGTON: Sales of new US homes recorded an unexpected increase in September as median home prices dropped to the lowest level in four years, the Commerce Department reported yesterday.

Sales of new single-family homes rose by 2.7 per cent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 464,000 homes, Commerce said. Economists had expected sales would drop from the August level.

The surprising increase in September sales still left them 33.1 per cent below the level of a year ago as the US is battered by the worst slump in housing in decades. Analysts are not convinced that the sales increases are signalling a bottom for the housing market.

By AP