New home sales surged 20.7% in March to 1.02M

WASHINGTON — Sales of new homes surged 20.7% in March to the highest level since 2006, rebounding from a sharp decline the previous month when severe winter storms wreaked havoc in many parts of the country.

Sales climbed to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.02 million last month after a 16.2% tumble in February, the Commerce Department reported Friday. It was the fastest pace for new home sales since the housing boom of the mid-2000s when sales reached 1.04 million units in August 2006.

The median sales price of a new home sold in March was $330,800, up only 0.8% from the median sales price a year ago.

The big jump in new home sales stands in contrast to sales of existing homes, which fell for a second consecutive month in March, a drop that was blamed on a lack of supply which has pushed existing home prices to new highs.

Housing has been one of the bright spots over the past year as the country was hit by a global pandemic which resulted in the loss of millions of jobs and prompted Congress to approve a series of relief measures totaling more than $5 trillion.

Analysts believe that the housing industry will have another good year in 2021, supported by ultra-low mortgage rates, but they expect the growth will moderate somewhat as home builders struggle with such problems as a surge in lumber prices, a shortage of construction workers and a lack of available building lots.

NEW YORK — American Express saw its first-quarter profits rise sharply, but the company saw a significant drop in revenue as fewer customers used their credit cards and those with balances paid down debt.The New York-based company said it earned a profit of $2.24 billion, or $2.74 a share, compared with a profit of $367 million, or 41 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier. This quarter's results included a one-time $675 million benefit from AmEx's loan-loss reserves. Like other financial companies, AmEx set aside funds to cover potentially bad loans in the pandemic, but as the economy has improved, those funds are coming out of those rainy day funds and returned to shareholders.Excluding those one-time results, AmEx had earnings of $1.74, which beat the $1.61 per share that analysts were looking for, according to FactSet.American Express' bottom line took a hit in the pandemic, with fewer Americans traveling, dining out, entertaining or shopping. Spending on corporate and individual charge and credit cards has dropped, and those who kept a revolving balance have paid off their debts.Revenues at AmEx were down 12% from a year earlier. Cardmember spending on AmEx's network was down 6% from a year earlier, although it has recovered since the early weeks of the recession.