Article: NEW HOME SALES UP 14.7% IN JULY LARGEST PERCENTAGE INCREASE SINCE 16.4 PERCENT HIKE IN APRIL 1993 COMES DESPITE RISING MORTGAGE RATES.(Business)

New home sales, defying an upswing in mortgage rates, shot up a surprising 14.7 percent in July, the biggest jump in seven years.

Americans purchased new single-family homes at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 944,000 last month, the highest level since March, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

The 14.7 percent increase was the largest since a 16.4 percent jump in April 1993. Many analysts were expecting a much smaller increase of around 1 percent.

In June, new-home sales fell 7.1 percent, according to revised figures, a considerably bigger drop than the 3.7 percent decline reported one month ago.

In mid-May, the average rate on ...

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