Washington, May 25 (IANS/EFE) Sales of new homes in the US rose by 7.3 percent last month to an annualized rate of 323,000 units, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

The figure is above the 295,000 units anticipated by experts. In March, new home sales had increased by 8.3 percent.

Compared with April 2010, sales last month dropped by 23.1 percent. The average price of a new home increased 4.6 percent over the past year to $217,900, the Commerce Department said.

Sales of existing homes fell in April by 0.8 percent to an annualised rate of 5.05 million units, the National Association of Realtors said in a report released last Thursday.

The average price for existing homes sold in April was $163,700, 5 percent below the level for the same month last year.

The inventory of existing homes for sale rose by 9.9 percent to 3.87 million units, a figure representing the anticipated demand for 9.2 months, which is 9.3 percent above the figure for March.