Housing sales bounce back in July

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 8/28/2002 3:00:00 PM

New York — Spurred on by alluringly low interest rates, the broad American housing market remained unexpectedly resilient during July, with sales of both new and existing homes climbing substantially higher despite persistent weakness in the U.S. economy and consumer sentiment and spending.

Staging a strong recovery from a big dip in June, sales of existing homes, by far the largest segment of the housing market, increased by 4.5 percent, to a seasonally adjusted level of 5.33 million units, the National Association of Realtors reported.

The smaller market for generally pricier new homes new homes shot up as well, surging by 6.7 percent, the National Association of Home Builders reported, to a seasonally adjusted level of 1.02 million from the June rate, which was revised downward to 953,000.

The only segment to record a decline was the forward-looking segment, housing starts, which slipped by 2.7 percent, the Commerce Department said, to a seasonally adjusted 1.65 million units from the 1.70 million level reached in June units.