US sales of new homes raced higher in June to the fastest pace in five years, according to government data released Wednesday.
Sales of new single-family houses jumped 8.3 percent over May, to an annual rate of 497,000, the Commerce Department said.
The May reading was downwardly revised to a rate of 459,000.
The jump in new-home sales came despite a recent spike in mortgage interest rates, offering fresh evidence of the turnaround underway in the housing market.
The increase was stronger than most analysts expected; the average estimate was a sales pace at 483,000.
Compared with a year ago, new-home sales were roughly 38 percent higher than in June 2012.
The June sales rate was the strongest since May 2008.
“The June reading was a new recovery-to-date high,” said Jim O’Sullivan of High Frequency Economics.
“No sign of the rise in mortgage rates holding back sales, although the data are highly volatile and not very reliable on a month-to-month basis,” he said.
The average 30-year mortgage interest rate has been on the rise since hitting a record low of 3.31 percent last November.
The rate rise has accelerated in recent months after the Federal Reserve signaled it could taper its $85 billion-a-month bond-purchase program if the economy continued to improve.
New homes generally fetched lower prices in June. The median sales price of houses sold fell to $249,700 from $263,900 in May.
The number of homes for sale at the end of June fell to 161,000, a 3.9-month supply at the current sales rate. In May, the supply stood at a 4.1-month rate.
The strong report followed Monday’s unexpectedly weak data on sales of previously owned homes in June.
The National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes, the largest part of the housing market, fell 1.2 percent in June.
US new-home sales surge to five-year high in June
