海角大神

In another sign of improvement in the housing market, new聽home聽sales聽increased 3.6 percent in July from the previous month, the government reported Thursday.

Sales聽of new residential聽homes聽rose to a seasonally adjusted level of 372,000 units in July, matching a more than two-year high for total聽sales, the Census Bureau said.

The same number of new聽homes聽were sold in May before聽sales聽dipped to 359,000 in June. The last time more new聽homes聽were sold in the U.S. was in April 2010, when there were 422,000 sold, according to government data.

Economists had expected a smaller increase in July, to about 365,000聽sales. But a sharp rise in the Northeast offset slight declines in the South and West to boost the numbers.

July聽sales聽were up 25.3 percent nationwide from a year earlier. And although聽sales聽aren鈥檛 close to the levels normally associated with an economic recovery, the trend is improving.

鈥淟evels of housing activity remain extremely depressed relative to previous peaks, but growth rates across most of the housing data are clearly moving in the right direction,鈥� Jill Brown, vice president of economics for Credit Suisse, said in a note.

On Wednesday, the National Association of Realtors reported that聽sales聽of previously occupied聽homes聽were up 2.3 percent in July after also dipping in June.

But new聽home聽construction has yet to pick up. The number of new houses for聽sale聽at the end of July fell slightly to 142,000 鈥� a 4.6-month supply 鈥� compared to 143,000 at the end of June.

The July figure marked the lowest level of new houses for聽sale聽since the Census Bureau began tracking the data in 1963.