"There's clear signs that people are moving back into the housing market"
- Mike Englund, chief economist of Action Economics LLC
Sales of previously owned homes in the world's biggest economy rose more than expected in October, indicating improvement in the property market helped by cheap borrowing costs. The number of purchases of existing homes added 2.1% to a 4.79 million annual rate in October, up from 4.69 million in September, the National Association of Realtors reported Monday.
Also Monday, the National Association of Home Builders said that home-builder sentiment soared to the highest level since May 2006 in November. Index of builder confidence rose by 5 points to a seasonally adjusted level of 46, compared 41 in the prior month.
"There's clear signs that people are moving back into the housing market," Mike Englund, chief economist of Action Economics LLC in Boulder, Colorado, said before the report. "Every measure of that market shows we have very tight inventories and we have continued demand. That presumably should be creating some updraft for the existing-home market."
Standard & Poor's surged 1.99 per cent to 1,386.89. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 1.65 per cent, or 207.65 points, to 12,795.96. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.21 per cent to 2,916.07.
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