US new-home sales hit 12-year high despite slow finish

It was a good year for builders as U.S. sales of newly built homes in 2019 climbed 10.3% to 681,000, the highest total in 12 years.
The Commerce Department reported the best year for homebuilders since 2007 when 776,000 new homes were sold as the housing bubble was beginning to deflate ahead of the Great Recession. Last year’s gains were driven entirely by new homes purchased in the South and West. Sales of new homes slumped in the Northeast and Midwest in 2019.
Cheap loans are a key story