US new home sales rise in January

Sales of new US homes started the year on an upswing, with buyers in the Northeast snapping up the largest number of houses in nine years, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

Purchases of new single-family homes have been rising steadily since 2012 and the new data confirmed the upward trend in the sector, along with tightening supply.

Housing has been a solid part of the economic recovery, and the National Association of Realtors also said sales of existing homes hit their fastest monthly pace in nearly 10 years last month, according to data released Wednesday.

Sales of new single-family homes in January rose 3.7 percent to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 555,000 units, the data showed. Analysts were expecting a larger monthly increase to 566,000 units.

The increase reversed some of the decline recorded in December, when the pace of sales slowed seven percent. January sales were 5.5 percent higher than the same month of last year.

A small decline in sales in the western United States was almost entirely offset by a 15.8 percent jump in the Northeast, where homebuyers bought 44,000 new houses -- the highest since January of 2008.

The median sales price fell one percent to $312,900 while inventory stood at 265,000 units, or 5.7 months' supply.