WASHINGTON - Sales of newly built U.S. single-family homes in October rose more than expected to their highest level in a year, data showed on Wednesday, pointing to a stabilizing housing market after a three-year slump.

The Commerce Department said sales jumped 6.2 percent to a 430,000 annual pace, the highest since September last year, from an upwardly revised 405,000 in September.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected new home sales to climb to a 410,000 annual pace from September's previously reported 402,000. The rise in sales pushed the supply of new homes on the market last month down to 239,000 units, the lowest since May 1971.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)