US new-home sales rise 5.7% in September

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Sales of new US homes rose 5.7 per cent in September from August, a further sign of recovery in the distressed housing market, government data released on Wednesday showed.

Sales of new single-family houses climbed to an annual rate of 389,000, following August's downwardly revised pace of 368,000, the Commerce Department said. The September sales rate was 27 percent higher than a year ago, as the housing market shows steady improvement more than six years after prices collapsed from a bubble at the heart of the US recession.

New home prices continued to surge in September amid tight inventory of new housing stock that slipped to a 4.5-month supply at the current sales pace from 4.7-months' supply in August.

The median sales price was US$242,400 (S$296,394) , up 16 per cent from a year ago.