Sales of new homes in May climbed to the second highest level in history, but the median sales price fell sharply, the government reported Friday.
The Commerce Department said that sales of new single-family homes rose by 2.1 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.3 million homes. But the median sales price dropped 6.5 percent to $217,000.
And the Commerce Department said orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods shot up at the fastest pace in 14 months in May, reflecting a huge jump in demand for commercial aircraft. Orders for durable goods rose by 5.5 percent last month to total $210.7 billion. The gain far exceeded the 1.9 percent increase that economists had been expecting.
