New Home Sales Increase 9%

WASHINGTON — Warmed by rising temperatures and falling interest rates, Americans bought new single-family homes in March at the fastest clip in more than a year, the government said today.

The 9% jump in new home sales translated to 698,000 individual sales, the best since 700,000 sales in February, 1984, and 21,000 ahead of March a year ago. White House spokesman Larry Speakes called it “welcome news for an industry that was particularly hard hit by the last recession.”