KB Homes says new home orders up 25 percent

NEW YORK (AP) - In a fresh sign of the recovering U.S. housing market, KB Home said Wednesday that its orders for new homes so far in its current quarter jumped 25 percent compared with the same period a year ago.

The homebuilder said that it received 1,499 orders in the period running from Dec. 1 through Feb. 6, up from 1,201 a year earlier. In all, it said its orders were worth $519.2 million, up 26 percent from $413.7 million a year ago.

The numbers are cause for optimism for the upcoming spring home selling season, KB Home CEO Jeffrey Mezger said in a statement.

With mortgage rates low and the U.S. economy improving, the announcement may be a sign that home sales will rise in the coming months.

Last month, the Commerce Department said that new home sales climbed 11.6 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 481,000.

Shares of KB Home, based in Los Angeles, rose 25 cents, or 1.84 percent, to close at $13.86 Wednesday.