Sales of new homes in the United States jumped by 8.9% in March, the largest monthly increase in nine months, as mortgage rates bottomed out for the year before a recent, steady ascent.

The increase pushed sales of new, single family houses to a record seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.228 million last month. That was up from 1.128 in February, the Commerce Department reported today.

The monthly increase of 8.9% was the highest since June 2003.

By region, new home sales soared by 19.3% in the South, hitting a record rate of 613,000. But in the Northeast, sales plummeted by 24.3% to a rate of 78,000.

The West posted an increase of 5.1% to a pace of 349,000, and in the Midwest, sales rose by 5% to a pace of 188,000.