New Homes Sales Inch Up

Sales of new homes rose slightly in April from the previous month to 526,000 units but are still in the doldrums with foreclosures and delinquencies continuing to climb. The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that sales of new homes rose 3.3% in April (from March) but plunged 42% compared to the same month last year. New homes sales were the weakest in New England, declining 58% year over year. Even with the slight sequential gain, sales are near a 17-year low. Meanwhile, according to the just released Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index, home prices fell 14.4% in the first quarter compared to the same period last year. According to a recent report by Friedman Billings Ramsey, "We expect house prices to decline in a growing number of MSAs in 2008."