The Commerce Department said on Friday that sales increased 0.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 467,000 units, the highest reading since July 2008. “We expect the housing market recovery to remain relatively gradual over the coming months,” said Gennadiy Goldberg, an economist at TD Securities in New York. New home sales, which account for about 8 percent of the housing market, tend to be volatile month to month and large revisions are not unusual.