Confirming the strong housing data reported earlier by Case-Shiller which showed the fastest pace of home price appreciation since 2014, moments ago the Census reported that New Home Sales rose 5.8% in March to an annual pace of 621K units, just shy of the highest print going back to January 2008, and solidly beating expectations of a 585K print.
Unlike existing home sales, new home sales are benefiting from an increase in the supply of homes for sale. New home inventories increased 1.1% in March.
While analyst agree that the underlying trend in new home sales is positive, some had expected a modest decline in sales after February's gain.
What was notable is that price jumped as both Median and Average home prices rose to the highest level of 2017.