U.S. new home sales rose 4.7% in February, the first increase since last July, the Commerce Department estimated Wednesday. The increase in new-home sales to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 337,000 was well above the 323,000 pace expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch. New-home sales in January were revised to a 322,000 level compared with the previous estimate of 309,000. New-home sales are still down 41.1% compared with a year ago. The months' supply of homes on the market fell slightly to 12.2 months in February from 12.9 months in January. This is still well above the 9.7 month supply in February 2008. Median sales prices have fallen 18.1% in the past year to $200,900.

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