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.

Retail sales increased 0.4% in April from March when it was down 0.7%. It marked the first increase since January when unusually warm weather and a big jump in Social Security benefits likely spurred more spending.