Americans Bought Tons of New Houses Last Month, and It Could Mean Good Things Are Ahead

The housing market could be looking up.

The Commerce Department released a report Tuesday indicating that new home sales spiked 11.6 percent in December — beating economist's expectations.

Image via American Advisors Group/flickr

As Fox Business reported, economists had anticipated a 2.7 percent increase that would have brought new home sales to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 450,000. The Commerce Department's expectation-beating estimate brought last month's new home sales to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 481,000.

The strong numbers may bode well for the 2015 housing market, but they weren't enough to substantially impact 2014's performance. Over the course of last year, Americans bought an estimated 435,000 new homes, up just 1.2 percent from 2013.

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