US new home sales surged in March despite elevated mortgage rates [Video]

NEW YORK — Sales of newly built single-family homes in the United States soared in March despite mortgage rates remaining elevated that month.

New home sales, which make up about 10% of the market, jumped 8.8% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 693,000, according to government figures released Tuesday. That trounced the 670,000 rate projected by economists, according to a FactSet poll, and was the strongest monthly increase since December 2022.

Sales of new homes increased across the country last month, rising the most in the Northeast region by a robust 27.8% from February.

Meanwhile, sales of existing homes, which make up the vast majority of the housing market, fell 4.3% in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.19 million, the sharpest drop in more than a year, the National Association of Realtors reported last week.

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