EUA e Irão chegam a acordo sobre cessar-fogo após troca intensa de ameaças

[Infoo]

10:00 AM ET, May 24, 2007 - 18 minutes ago
U.S. new-home sales down 10.6% y-o-y
U.S. April median home sale price down 10.9% y-o-y
U.S. new-home inventory 6.5-months supply
U.S. April new-home inventory falls 1.5% to 538,000
U.S. March new-home sales revised lower to 844,000
U.S. new-home sales highest since December
April new-home sales up 16% to 981,000 vs. 865,000 expected

ECONOMIC REPORT: New-home sales surge 16% in April as prices fall; Median sales price down 10.9% in the past year, biggest drop since 1970
By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch Last Update: 10:12 AM ET May 24, 2007

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Sales of new U.S. homes unexpectedly surged in April, rising by 16% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 981,000, the Commerce Department said Thursday, far exceeding the 865,000 pace expected.
Sales were boosted by plunging prices. The median price of a new home was $229,100, down 10.9% in the past year, the largest price decline since 1970. Compared with March, prices in April were down a record 11.1%.
The inventory of unsold homes fell by 1.5% to 538,000, representing a 6.5-month supply. In March, the inventory was 8.1 months.
The stock of completed-but-unsold homes fell for the first time in a year.
Sales in April were down 10.6% compared with April 2006. Sales in the first four months of 2007 were 20% lower than in the first four months of 2006.
The jump in new-home sales was a shock.
Most home builders have reported a soft spring selling season, and the home builders' sentiment index fell to a 16-year low in May. Building permits fell to a 10-year low in April.
However, Toll Bros. (TOL : 29.71, -0.06, -0.2%) CEO Richard Toll said in an outlook on Thursday that he sees "glimmers of strength in certain territories."
The government cautions that its housing data are subject to large sampling and other statistical errors. Large revisions are common.
The standard error of 13% is so high, in fact, that the government cannot be sure in most months whether sales rose or fell. In April, the government is confident that sales did rise.
It can take up to six months for a trend in sales to emerge. New-home sales have averaged 930,000 per month over the past six months, compared with 925,000 in the six months ending in March.
Sales were led by a 28% gain in the South and an 8.5% gain in the West, the two largest regions. Sales rose 3.8% in the Northeast and fell 4% in the Midwest.