US new-home sales jump 27 per cent in March

Spurred by the US government's tax incentives which are due to end next week, new home sales registered its highest rate of growth in 47 years, by rising 26.9 per cent in March over the previous month.

Sales of new single-family houses in March 2010 were 411,000 according to estimates released by the US census bureau. This is 87,000 higher compared to a record low of 324,000 for February.

The increase is 23.8 per cent over last March's sales of 332,000 homes. The latest gain brought an end to a four-month stretch of continuous declines.

All the regions showed increased new-home sales. The South recorded the maximum surge of 43.5 per cent in March followed by the Northeast with 35.7 per cent. The western region showed an increase of 5.7 per cent while the estimate for the Midwest was 4.3 per cent higher.

Earlier in November, the US government extended the $8000 tax credit deadline for first-time home-buyers up to the end of April 2010.

According to the bureau's estimates, the new houses for sale at the end of March were 228,000 representing a supply of 6.7 months at the current sales rate. This is much lower than the 9.2 months of inventory estimated in February.