July new-home sales surge to almost nine-year high

Washington

PURCHASES of new US homes unexpectedly jumped in July to the highest level in almost nine years, led by soaring demand in the nation's South and adding to signs of persistent housing-market strength.

Sales increased 12.4 per cent to a 654,000 annualised pace, the fastest since October 2007, Commerce Department data showed on Tuesday in Washington. That exceeded the most optimistic forecast in a Bloomberg survey. Purchases in the South were the strongest since before the start of the last recession.