Real Estate

The strength in new home sales was also driven by a massive jump in sales in the south. Overall, new home sales are trending higher as buyers grapple with a low level of home listings in the existing home sales market.

In April, sales of existing homes — which include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops — dropped 3.4% from March. Annually, sales were down 23% from a year ago and the seasonally adjusted annualized sales pace dropped from 5.57 million units a year ago to 4.28 million in April.

The number of new home construction projects rose 2.2% in April from the month before, according to the Commerce Department. Permits for new single-family homes rose too.

Housing starts are still way down since this time last year, but the recent uptick in construction is telling us there’s a lot of demand for new homes.

• • Sales slipped 0.7%
• • Existing home sales 4 MM
• • Median sales price $359,000 Up 1.3% from a year ago
• • Inventory of unsold homes up from prior month
• • More From the National Association of Realtors

Workers priced out as rents soar in hot real estate market

In affluent Naples, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment now tops $2,800, up nearly 60% from a year ago, according to listing site rent.com.

That's far from affordable.

Doug Van Soest, co-founder of Socal Home Buyers, a professional real estate investment company, said that the New Orleans real estate market has unique characteristics, including historic architecture, vibrant culture and diverse neighborhoods, which make it stand out from other big cities and contribute to its charm and appeal.

US home prices dropped for the fifth month in a row in November, as rising mortgage rates pushed prospective buyers out of the housing market late last year and prices continued to cool, according to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller US National Home Price Index, released Tuesday.