Home sales leap as tax credit nears expiration

Offer potential home buyers other people's money, and they will use it:

New-home sales rose 26.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 411,000 last month, compared to a upwardly revised annual rate of 324,000 in February, the Census Bureau said. ...

New-home sales spiked in every region of the United States. The South saw the biggest jump in new home sales, up a stunning 43.5%, while the Northeast region saw sales climb 35.7%. The West and Midwest regions both saw single-digit growth.

The Census Bureau data followed a report from the National Association of Realtors on Thursday that showed existing home sales soared nearly 7% in March, as new homebuyers raced to buy up properties before a tax credit expires on April 30.

I usually don't like month-over-month numbers, but these are at least seasonally adjusted.