U.S. new-home sales rise 4.4% in July

The numbers: Sales of newly built homes in the U.S. rose in July, as home buyers continued to turn to home builders for inventory. 

Home buyers are finding few listings of previously-owned homes, and are turning to builders, who have scaled up efforts to build more homes. 

U.S. new home sales rose 4.4% to an annual rate of 714,000 in July,…