New home sales edge higher, extend streak

US new home sales edged higher in August by 0.7 percent for a fifth consecutive monthly increase, government data showed Friday.
The Commerce Department said sales of new single-family homes rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 429,000. That was below market forecasts of a level of 440,000 and 3.4 percent lower than the level of a year earlier.
The data suggested a sluggish recovery for a sector that has been battered since the collapse of the US housing bubble that led to a global financial crisis.