New Home Sales Jump to Two-Year High

New home sales rose 5.7% in September to a two-year high, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

Sales rose to a 389,000 annual rate, the most since April 2010, from a revised 368,000, which was lower than orginally reported, Commerce said.

The September rate was above economists’ median forecast of 385,000, Bloomberg reported.

Purchases rose 16.8% in the South and 16.7% in the Northeast. They fell 37.3% in the Midwest.

Rising home sales can mean more business for flatbed trucking companies, which haul building materials, and dry van freight carriers, which haul household appliances and furniture.