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Home sales build on gains
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December 2, 1998: 10:43 a.m. ET
Construction sector rallies in October as annual sales rate jumps to 851,000
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The U.S. housing market defied expectations in October, forging ahead for the second month in a row, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.
Sales of new single-family residences gained 0.8 percent in the month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 851,000 from a revised rate of 844,000 in September.
In the year to date, 752,000 new homes have sold, a 9 percent increase from 692,000 homes in the comparable 1997 period.
New home sales figures are a key indicator of the construction sector's health. Economists had forecast the October sales rate to remain flat at 844,000.
The news fed into a general bond market rally, boosting traders' confidence in the U.S. economy's near-term prospects. Shortly after the news was released, the benchmark 30-year Treasury bond was trading up 13/32 at 103-15/32 to yield 5.02 percent.
However, on a region-by-region basis, the picture wasn't uniformly robust. The only region where sales increased was the West, where home sales climbed 11.2 percent to 248,000 per year.
In the Northeast, sales slipped 11 percent to 65,000 per year, while the Midwest and South also reported slower residential sales.
Nationally, the median sales price of new homes sold in October was $150,000. 
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