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US new home sales edge higher in April

US new home sales edged slightly higher in April house prices increased, the government said Thursday in a report showing modest improvement in the troubled sector.

The Commerce Department reported sales of new one-family houses in April rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 352,000 units, a gain of 0.3 percent above the revised March rate of 351,000 units.

Most analysts had expected a stronger sales pace of 360,000 houses.

Last month's sales rate was 34.0 percent lower than in April 2008.

However, compared with January's record low for the data series begun in 1963, at 329,000 units, sales were up 7.0 percent over the three months.

The new home sales data followed a National Association of Realtors report Wednesday of an unexpectedly strong 2.9 percent increase in sales of existing homes, the dominant sector in the residential market, as falling prices attracted buyers.

The Commerce Department said the median sales price of new houses in April rose 3.7 percent, to 209,700 dollars, in April from March, but was 14.9 percent lower than a year ago.

The glut of new houses on the market continued to fall as builders slashed projects in the face of falling home prices and rising unemployment in the recession-gripped economy.

Residential construction plunged 4.2 percent compared with the end of March, and was down 35.4 percent from a year ago to a pace last seen in 1963.

The number of new houses for sale fell to a seasonally adjusted 297,000 at the end of April, the lowest level since May 2001.

At the current sales rate, it would take 10.1 months to buy all the inventory on the market. That was down from 10.6-month supply in March and a peak glut at 12.4 months in January.