Business

HOME SALES REBOUND, SLUMP EASING

The housing crisis could finally be at a bottom, setting the stage for a spring buying boom.

A new Commerce Department report yesterday showed that the long slump in new-home sales isn’t getting worse and sales could be on an upward path this year.

Indeed, some economists declared an end to the sales drought based on the report.

“That’s not the same as a recovery, but it is better than continued declines in sales,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics.

“I’m hopeful the worst is over,” said David Crowe, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders.

“I don’t think we’re quite out of the woods either. I think we will bounce around a bottom for a month or two.”

The government report said new-home sales surged 4.7 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 337,000 from an upwardly revised January figure of 322,000.

While last’s month’s figure is still off 41 percent from a year ago, economists greeted the numbers warmly, as they expected February to post another decline.

The South and West — two regions hardest hit by the housing crisis — posted the biggest gains, rising nearly 10 percent and 7 percent, respectively.

Some of the added sales could be due to the new $8,000 tax credit this year for first-time home buyers.

Likewise, mortgage rates are sliding, with the 30-year fixed rate at around 4.9 percent. Prices are also at the lowest in years.

In about half the US cities, including some locations in Manhattan, it’s now cheaper to buy a home than to rent.

“You can now own a home in so many areas of the country for less than it costs to rent,” said Mollie Carmichael, senior vice president at John Burns Real Estate Consulting.

A typical one-bedroom apartment in a Manhattan building with a doorman rents for about $2,700 a month.

But a $600,000 mortgage on a similar place — assuming good credit and a 20 percent down payment — would be about $2,600 per month, said Ray Schmitz of Coldwell Banker Previews International.

paul.tharp@nypost.com