A big drop in the price of the typical new home sold in April spurred much better-than-expected sales, according to the latest government statistics on the real estate and home building market.

CNNMoney.com reported new homes sold at an annual pace of 981,000 in April, up 16.2 percent from the revised 844,000 pace in March. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast an 860,000 rate in April.

The gain in sales from March is the biggest one-month jump in 14 years, but April sales still came in 10.6 percent below year-earlier levels.

The median price of a new home sold in April plunged 10.9 percent from a year earlier to $229,100. The new price reading was also down 11.1 percent from the March reading.  It was the sharpest year-over-year drop in median new home prices since December 1970 and the biggest month-to-month drop on record.