U.S. orders for goods designed to last at least three years showed surprising strength in June as rising demand for computers and machinery helped offset a drop in aircraft orders.

The U.S. Commerce Department said today that durable-goods orders increased a seasonally adjusted 1.4% to US$215.38 billion last month after rising an upwardly revised 6.4% in May.

Economists had forecast orders would fall 0.5%.

Civilian aircraft orders dropped 24.2% after soaring 166.9% in May. That pullback led to a 1.4% overall decline in transportation orders, but demand for all other durables climbed 2.6%, with particular strength in computers, which rose 8.7%, communications equipment, which jumped 18.3%, and machinery, which gained 3.7%. Demand for motor vehicles and parts slid 0.1%.

Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft – a a measure of U.S. business spending — increased 3.8% in June.

Overall capital-goods orders decreased 0.3%, with defense-related capital goods orders climbing 16.9%. Durable-goods inventories slid 0.3%, as unfilled orders rose 2.6% and shipments fell 0.1%.

Separately, Commerce said sales of new homes reached another record high during June, rising 4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.374 million. May sales had increased a revised 3% to an annual rate to 1.321 million from an earlier estimated 1.298 million.

Demand for existing homes cracked yet another record in June, the National Association of Realtors reported Monday, as sales rose 2.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 7.33 million.