New home sales in April increased from last March and exceeded economists’ expectations

New home sales for the month of April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 454,000, up 10,000 from last March, according to the latest Census Bureau report. Financial blog Calculated Risk mentions that this number exceeded the expectations of economists, which was believed to be a seasonally adjusted rate of 425,000.

The blog also mentions that there have been strong upward revisions the entire year. January sales revised up from 445,000 to 458,000, February sales revised up from 411,000 to 429,000 and March sales revised up from 417,000 to 444,000.

Here are some of the New Home Sales statistics from the latest Census Bureau report:

• The April rate for this year is 29 percent above the rate for April 2012
• The median sales price for new homes sold in April was $271,600, 8.3 percent above the March median
• The average sales price was $330,000, up 15.4 percent from March
• There were 156,000 new homes for sale at the end of April for a supply of 4.1 months, up from an inventory of 151,000 at the end of March

Based on the result of April new home sales, it looks as though the housing market is continuing to recover.