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New home sales rose in July as homebuyers were encouraged by lower rates and builder incentives.

Sales of new single-family houses increased by 10.6% from the revised June numbers, rising to an annual rate of 739,000 homes, the Census Bureau said Friday. This was above the 668,000 forecasters surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and expected.

“New home sales continue to be the lone bright spot in the housing market,” wrote Daniel Vielhabe, economist for Nationwide

By comparison, Thursday's report on existing home sales showed the slowest growth for any July since 2010.

Sellers have been reluctant to trade their low mortgage rates for higher current rates, resulting in fewer existing home options for buyers and higher prices. Buyers, therefore, are turning to the new builds.

Builders can offer incentives to help with the costs as high mortgage rates price some out of the market. According to the National Association of Home Builders, 64% of homebuilders used incentives to entice buyers, the highest level since April 2019.

Additionally, mortgage rates decreased in August, hovering near a 16-month low and economists expect them to fall further.

“With current inflation data pointing to interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve and mortgage rates down markedly in the second week of August, buyer interest and builder sentiment should improve in the months ahead,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz.

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The State Security Service on Sunday, August 25, detained a Nigerian journalist, Adejuwon Soyinka, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.

Soyinka is the West African Regional Editor of the Conversation Africa and a former Pioneer Editor of the BBC Pidgin Service.

PremiumTimes reports that he was detained by SSS operatives at about 5.40 a.m. upon his arrival from the United Kingdom via a Virgin Atlantic flight.

According to the report, no reason has been given for his detention by the security agency.

The award-winning journalist’s colleagues said he has not been reachable as messages and calls to his phone have been unanswered.

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Media personality, Abike has expressed has displeasure with an admirer who invited her on a date has restricted her from ordering what she wanted to eat.

According to her, an individual has no right to place any restrictions on what their date should order as long as the chose the location of the restaurant.

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The Nasarawa State Police command has arrested one Mrs Hauwa Sani of Doro village, Katsina state, for allegedly being in possession of 124 rounds of anti-aircraft amm¥nition concealed in a gallon of palm oil.

The suspect was arrested alongside a two-year-old child at Rafin Sanyi village in Doma Local Government Area of Nasarawa State on Friday, August 23, 2024.

The command’s spokesperson, Ramhan Nansel, in a statement on Saturday, August 24, said preliminary investigation revealed the suspect received the amm¥nition from Doma LGA and was arrested on her way to Katsina.

Other items recovered from the suspect include a mobile telephone and a cash sum of N78,500.

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Russian-French billionaire founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, Pavel Durov, was reportedly arrested at Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening, August 24.

TF1 TV reports that the 39-year-old was travelling aboard his private jet, when he was arrested at about 8pm local time (6pm GMT)l

According to the report posted on their website, Durov had been targeted by an arrest warrant in France as part of a preliminary police investigation. He is expected to appear in court on Sunday.

TF1 said the investigation was focused on a lack of moderators on Telegram, and that police considered that this situation allowed criminal activity to go on undeterred on the messaging app.

The encrypted Telegram, with close to one billion users, is particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union. It is ranked as one of the major social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and Wechat.

The Russia-born entrepreneur lives in Dubai, where Telegram is based, and holds dual citizenship of France and the United Arab Emirates.

Durov, who is estimated by Forbes to have a fortune of $15.5bn (£12bn), left Russia in 2014 after he refused to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he sold.

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