New home sales jump in April, as do prices; is it time to build?

Good news for home builders and maybe for the economy as a whole: Sales of new homes increased nearly 7 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 517,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

That’s still a below-average rate historically, but it’s up 26 percent compared with April 2014. Plus, home builders were relieved that sales bounced back in April after slumping in March.

“Today’s numbers are consistent with other data we’ve seen recently and indicate a continuing,… …read more