world news - 01.07.2003

US-Home Sales Hit New Record In May

In the midst of the lowest long-term mortgage rates in almost half a century, the Commerce Department today reported that sales of new single-family homes rose for the third consecutive month in May to a record-high seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.16 million units. This was 12.5 percent ahead of April’s seasonally adjusted sales pace, and the fourth time this year that sales have eclipsed the million-unit mark. Sales of new single-family homes in May posted double-digit gains of 16 percent and 19.7 percent in the South and West, respectively, and registered a more modest 1.6 percent gain in the Midwest. A 9.0 percent decline in the Northeast was attributed primarily to unusually wet weather conditions.

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