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US new home sales fall 7.6% last month
By Alan Zibel |
January 28, 2010, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
NEW home sales unexpectedly fell 7.6 percent last month in the United States, capping the industry's weakest year on record.
The US Commerce Department yesterday said December sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 342,000 from an upwardly revised November pace of 370,000. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had forecast a pace of 370,000 for December.
The results were the weakest since March and indicated demand remains sluggish despite newly expanded tax incentives to spur sales.
Only 374,000 homes were sold last year, down 23 percent from a year earlier and the weakest year on records dating back to 1963. December's sales were nearly 9 percent below the same month a year ago.
Home sales have had a rocky recovery from their four-year slide. December's sales pace was up 4 percent from the bottom in January 2009, but down 75 percent from the peak in July 2005.
The median sales price of US$221,300 in December was down nearly 4 percent from US$229,600 a year earlier, but up about 5 percent from November's median of US$210,300.
New home sales varied widely across the country. Sales of new homes plummeted by 41 percent in the Midwest and fell by 7 percent in the south. But they skyrocketed 43 percent in the Northeast and rose 5 percent in the West.
Experts forecast that any housing recovery this year will be slow and labored. The National Association of Home Builders forecasts sales of new and previously occupied homes to weaken after tax credits for home buyers expire in April. But new home sales are expected to rise by more than one-third from last year's dismal levels.
The US Commerce Department yesterday said December sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 342,000 from an upwardly revised November pace of 370,000. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had forecast a pace of 370,000 for December.
The results were the weakest since March and indicated demand remains sluggish despite newly expanded tax incentives to spur sales.
Only 374,000 homes were sold last year, down 23 percent from a year earlier and the weakest year on records dating back to 1963. December's sales were nearly 9 percent below the same month a year ago.
Home sales have had a rocky recovery from their four-year slide. December's sales pace was up 4 percent from the bottom in January 2009, but down 75 percent from the peak in July 2005.
The median sales price of US$221,300 in December was down nearly 4 percent from US$229,600 a year earlier, but up about 5 percent from November's median of US$210,300.
New home sales varied widely across the country. Sales of new homes plummeted by 41 percent in the Midwest and fell by 7 percent in the south. But they skyrocketed 43 percent in the Northeast and rose 5 percent in the West.
Experts forecast that any housing recovery this year will be slow and labored. The National Association of Home Builders forecasts sales of new and previously occupied homes to weaken after tax credits for home buyers expire in April. But new home sales are expected to rise by more than one-third from last year's dismal levels.
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