New-Home Sales Rebound

New single-family home sales rebounded 9.4% in February as builders continue to sell homes at a much faster rate than they can build them.The U.S. Census Bureau reported that new-home sales jumped from a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.12 million in January to 1.23 million in February. Builders have a huge backlog of unfilled orders, and lenders can expect to see more loan closings than sales this year, according to National Association of Home Builders economist Michael Carliner. About 100,000 homes were started in 2004 that won't get to closing until this year. "Even though we expect sales to be down 4%-5%, the number of loan closings should be up in 2005," he said.