Sales of new homes rose a surprisingly strong 16.6% in May suggesting that the reopening of major parts of the country were giving a boost to the housing market. The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that sales of new single-family homes rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 676,000 last month. That was a much better performance than expected. Many economists had forecast that sales would fall in May.

The report on new home sales followed a report Monday that sales of existing homes plunged 9.7% in May to an annual rate of 3.91 million, the slowest pace in nearly a decade.