Dive Brief:
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More newly built single-family homes sold in August than in any other single month since May 2008, the Census Bureau reported Wednesday.
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The 18% increase in new-home sales pushes the seasonally adjusted annual rate of new single-family home sales to 504,000, exceeding economists’ expectations of 430,000. Just a month earlier, that number was 427,000.
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The strongest sales, as usual, were in the West and the Northeast. Sales of Southern homes were up by about 8%, but Midwestern sales remained flat.
Dive Insight:
At the same time sales increased, housing starts fell by 14% between July and August. Sales of existing homes also fell in August, by 1.8%.