Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes reached its highest level since May 2007, reaching a level of 29 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). This is a gain of five points from the previous month, which was downwardly revised.

Building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers had a strong month in April compared with a year ago, according to government data released Tuesday.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for April were up 0.1% to $408 billion. The April figure, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was up 6.4% from the April 2011 estimate.

Both kitchen and bathroom renovations have increased 17% from two years ago, according to a survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), with bathroom remodels cited as a common job by 78% of remodelers and kitchen remodels at 69%. Since 2009, bathrooms and kitchens have switched places in popularity, with bathroom remodels moving into the top spot as the most common type of remodeling project. 

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, rose 4.1% to 101.4 in March from an upwardly revised 97.4 in February and is 12.8% above March 2011 when it was 89.9, according to the National Association of Realtors. The data reflect contracts but not closings.

The index is now at the highest level since April 2010 when it was 111.3.

Channel analysis Sales of exterior lighting products jumped 21.3% in the 12 months from March 2011 to February 2012, compared with the same period in the previous year, according to the market size estimate from NPD Group’s Consumer Tracking Service. Consumers lit up their yards to the tune of $789 million during that time, with most of the spend occurring at warehouse home centers.

The S&P/Case-Shiller Index, a leading indicator of U.S. housing prices, showed annual declines of 3.6% and 3.5% for the 10- and 20-city composites, respectively, for February 2012. This is a new low for February, which has not seen such levels since 2002. But the decline was less steep than in previous months, when it recorded a 3.9% drop in January and a 4.1% drop in December in year-over-year figures. 

Housing sales data took a turn in the wrong direction in March.

Sales of new single-family houses in March 2012 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 328,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

The March rate is 7.1% below the revised February rate of 353,000, but it’s 7.5% above the same rate from a year ago.

U.S. containerized exports rose 9.6% in February in year-over-year figures, with the total February volume estimated at 1,014,176 TEUs Strong gains in building materials, paper and paperboard, and refrigerated foods were helped by the depreciation of the U.S. dollar, according to an analysis by The Journal of Commerce/PIERS.

In terms of TEUs, paper and paperboard showed the greatest gains, but building materials grew by 280%  over January 2012.  

Data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) showed a decline in total existing-home sales for the month of March. 

Sales of existing-homes declined 2.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.48 million in March.

Still, economists from the NAR see signs of a stabilizing market in the figures. 

A study looking at consumer shopping behavior found that nine out of ten shoppers purchase something not on their intended list, according to The Integer Group and M/A/R/C Research. 

Among shoppers who purchase off-list items, 66% say the reason was a sale or promotion, 30% say they found a coupon, and 23% say they simply wanted to pamper themselves, The Checkout study found.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced Monday that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for March, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $411.1 billion, an increase of 0.8% from the previous month.           

Compared with the same month last year, sales were up 6.5%.

The Federal Reserve’s latest Beige Book report, which covered the period February 18 - April 2, 2012, was not effusive in its assessment of economic activity, pegging expansion at a “modest to moderate pace.” But a closer look at the report, provided by IHS Global Insight, indicate an uptick in housing demand, residential construction activity, consumer spending, employment and lending. The only dark cloud on the horizon, according to the Federal Reserve’s economic analysis, is gas prices.