• New-home sales last month hit an annual pace of 372,000 (seasonally adjusted), putting them back on the two-year-high pace they hit in May, the National Association of Home Builders said.
• Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, NAHB said the composite national rise of 3.6% from June derived from a 76.5% percent increase in the Northeast, a 7.7% gain in the Midwest, a 1.6% fall in the South and a decline of 0.9% in the West.
• NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe said, “Today’s good report is the latest indicator of a gradual, upward trend that we expect to continue through the remainder of this year.” He knocked banks, however, for too-tight credit that is hampering builders and brought the inventory of new homes for sale to an all-time low.

From the release:

Sales of newly built, single-family homes rose 3.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 372,000 units in July from an upwardly revised pace in the previous month, according to figures released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Census Bureau today. ...