April new home sales up 2% to 454,000

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April new home sales up 2% to 454,000
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Sales of new U.S. homes edged up in April to the second-highest post-recession level, as pent-up demand, low interest rates and tight inventories of older homes lift demand. New home sales reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 454,000, up 2.3% from an upwardly revised level of 444,000 in March, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected an improvement to 430,000 from an initially reported 417,000. April's gain represents a 29% improvement from the same period of 2012. Median prices jumped 15% year-on-year to $271,600, a record level. At the end of April, there were 155,000 new homes for sale, the Commerce Department estimates, representing 4 months of supply at current sales rates.