On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in November traded at USD90.31 a barrel on Thursday, up 0.37%, off from a session high of USD90.41 and up from an earlier session low of USD90.17.
In the U.S. earlier, the Census Bureau reported that new home sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 373,000 in August from 374,000 in July, whose figure was revised up from 372,000.
Analysts had expected new home sales to rise to 380,000 in August.
The news sent investors selling oil, a growth-sensitive commodity, on concerns the U.S. still faces headwinds, especially in the housing sector, which threw the country into a recession more than four years ago and continues to dampen recovery.
Meanwhile in Europe, protests broke out in the streets of Madrid on Wednesday before the Spanish government's plans to unveil new austerity measures to accompany the country's 2013 budget later Thursday.
Yields on Spain's benchmark 10-year government bond topped 6 percent earlier on concerns the country will run into problems financing itself.
Spain has yet to request a bailout, though the country has said it will meet its budgetary goals. Still, bullish U.S. housing data hit the wire only a day earlier, which gave oil room to rise.
The Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller House Price Index showed that home price in 20 cities rose 1.2% in July of this year compared with the same month a year ago.
Analysts had expected the closely watched gauge on home prices to rise 1.0% in July.
Elsewhere, the Conference Board, an industry group, reported that its U.S. consumer confidence index rose to 70.3 in September from an upwardly revised 61.3 in August.
September's reading was the highest since February and outpacing analysts' calls for a 63.0 reading.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report earlier that U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 2.45 million barrels last week, way off from market calls for a increase of 920,00 barrels.
The U.S. is the world’s biggest oil-consuming country, responsible for almost 22% of global oil demand.
On the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for November delivery were up 0.19% and trading at USD110.25 a barrel, up USD19.94 from its U.S. counterpart.
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