NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. consumer confidence improved in May, a private research group said Tuesday, while reports from the government and the nation's realtors showed the red-hot housing market stayed hot in April.

The Conference Board, a business research group based in New York, said its closely watched index of consumer confidence rose to 83.8 in May from 81 in April. Economists, on average, expected confidence to rise to 84.9, according to a Reuters poll.

Separately, the Commerce Department said the pace of new-home sales rose to an annualized rate of 1.028 million units, compared with a revised 1.011 in March. And the National Association of Realtors said existing home sales rose to an annualized pace of 5.84 million units from 5.53 million in March.

Economists, on average, expected new home sales at a 986,000-unit pace and existing home sales at a 5.67-million unit pace, according to Reuters.