Sales of newly built homes rose in May to the highest level since the recession, another sign the housing market is building steam after years of sluggish progress.

New-home sales increased 2.2% over the month to an annual rate of 546,000, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That marked the best month of sales since February 2008, and it followed an 8.1% surge in sales in April. 

Purchases of new homes are only about a tenth of all home sales, and the data are choppy. But the figure comes amid a flurry of other signs that more Americans are buying homes after a run of strong job growth, buoyed by slightly looser lending standards and historically low mortgage rates.

Sales of previously owned homes—the bulk of the market—climbed last month to the highest rate since late 2009, the National Association of Realtors reported this week.