New home sales hit three-year high; Lego Group to buy Discovery Centers

U.S. sales of new single-family homes rebounded from a longtime slump in August to reach their highest level in more than three years, according to the latest figures from the Commerce Department and Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The government said on Wednesday that new homes sold at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 800,000 units. That was 20.5% higher than July’s figure and topped the year-earlier number by 15.4%.

Housing economist Selma Hepp said the latest numbers reflect a notable increase in summer buying activity, particularly for newly constructed homes, and that could gain further momentum after the Federal Reserve’s latest quarter-percent interest rate cut.

“Builders have been enticing buyers with aggressive pricing strategies and mortgage rate buydowns,” said Hepp, chief economist at data firm Cotality, formerly known as CoreLogic. Recent inventory improvements for affordably priced existing homes “have introduced competition for builders in this segment, which has driven the need for more aggressive pricing strategies,” Hepp said in a statement Wednesday.