New house sales in the US jumped by 11% in June, providing some of the strongest evidence yet that the market has bottomed out after being savaged for three years.

There are increasing signs that the combined impact of falling prices and low mortgage rates, along with aggressive government incentives, is driving people back to the market and stirring sales.

The monthly rise was the sharpest in nearly nine years, far exceeding economists’ expectations, and followed a revised increase of 2.4% in the previous month. House sales rose to an adjusted annual rate of 384,000, the Department of Commerce said.

Financial Times, Daily Telegraph