New home sales surged to the highest in nearly eight years in July as home builders picked up the pace while buyer demand remained robust. Sales of newly-constructed homes rose 12.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 654,000, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That was 31.3% higher than a year ago, and easily beat forecasts of a 581,000 pace from economists surveyed by MarketWatch. June’s figure was revised downward slightly, to 582,000. The median sales price in July was $294,600, 0.5% lower than year-ago levels. As sales soared, supply dwindled to 4.3 months’ worth of homes at the current pace. On Tuesday, ... (full story)