A second straight good-news post: New home sales rise, too

It’s hard not to be negative when you’re writing about residential real estate. But yesterday I posted about an increase in the sales of existing homes. Today, I’m spreading a bit more sunshine: The sales of new homes increased in July, too.

According to the National Association of Home Builders,  the sales of newly built homes rose 2.4 percent in July.

To the home builders association’s credit, its officials aren’t pointing at the sales figures at signs that the problems of new home builders are over. The group’s chief economist, David Seiders, pointed out that the July figures came on the heels of two consecutive months of significant sales drops.

Still, builders have to be thrilled to get any bit of good news these days. The housing slump has devastated the home-building industry, with builders across the country going out of business.

We can only hope that the sales increases, in both existing and newly built homes, are a sign of more good news to come. We’ve certainly all had our fill of bad news.