New home sales surged 20% in August

Sales of new homes in the country surged in August to the highest level in more than three-and-a-half years.

Sales are up 20.5% from July and 15.4% compared to August of last year. This jump came even before mortgage rates began to decline, suggesting that builder incentives such as price cuts may have successfully attracted buyers amid a surplus of new inventory.

However, economists largely brushed off the spike, pointing out that new housing data tends to be highly volatile and often revised later.