Economy, Real Estate | featured news

U.S. home sales picked up slightly in February but remain sluggish due to tight inventories, affordability problems and nasty winter weather.

The resurgent U.S. housing market has sent builders calling again for Richard Vap, who owns a drywall installation company. Vap would love to help - if he could hire enough qualified people. "There is a shortage of manpower," says Vap, owner of South Valley Drywall in Littleton, Colo. "We're probably only hiring about 75 or 80 percent of what we actually need."

Sales of new single-family homes rose in March, indicating the housing market recovery remains on track.

Home resales edged downward in March, a pause in the housing market recovery that has helped boost the economy.

Sales of new homes fell in February after climbing to the highest level in more than four years in January. Sales of new homes dropped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 411,000 in February, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. That is a decline of 4.6 percent from the January level of 431,000, which had been the strongest sales pace since September 2008.

Single-family home prices rose in January, starting the year with the biggest annual increase in six-and-a-half years in a fresh sign the housing market recovery remains on track, a closely watched survey showed on Tuesday.

Home resales hit a three-year high in February and prices jumped, adding to signs of an acceleration in the housing market recovery, even though the supply of properties on the market increased.

Groundbreaking to build homes rose in February and new permits for construction climbed to the highest level since 2008, a sign the nation's housing market recovery is gathering steam.

U.S. home prices jumped in January, a sign the housing market is gaining momentum as it nears the spring selling season.

A measure of the number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes rose in January from December to the highest level in more than 2 ½ years. The increase suggests sales of previously occupied homes will continue rising in the coming months. The National Association of Realtors says its seasonally adjusted index for pending home sales rose 4.5 percent last month to 105.9. That's the highest since April 2010, when a homebuyer's tax credit was about to expire.