February New US Home Sales Rise Unexpectedly

ALAN ZIBEL

WASHINGTON (AP) — New U.S. home sales rebounded unexpectedly last month, but were still the second-worst on record and remained well below last year's levels, according to data released Wednesday.

The results provided some hope that developers have slashed prices and stopped building to such a large extent that sales have finally hit bottom and the worst may be in the past. Prices, however, are likely to keep falling for months as builders continue to clear out their stock of unsold homes.

"We are prepared to hazard the view that the post-Lehman (Brothers) meltdown is now over and the market is stabilizing," wrote Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics. "That's not the same as a recovery, but it is better than continued declines in sales."

The Commerce Department said sales rose 4.7 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 337,000 from an upwardly revised January figure of 322,000. Even after the revision to January's sales results, the month remained the worst on records dating back to 1963.

Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected February sales to fall to a pace of 300,000 units.