Sales of new single-family homes dropped 4.7% to a 604,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate in December, according to data released by the Commerce Department yesterday.
The December figure came after a downwardly revised 634,000 rate in November, a 12.6% drop, originally reported as a 9.0% decrease to 647,000. IFR Markets’ poll of economists had predicted a 645,000 sales level for November.
Sales of new homes were 40.7% below the 1.019 million rate in December 2006, Commerce said.
The supply of new homes at the current sales rate grew to 9.6 months from 9.4 months in November. At the end of December, the number of new homes on the market dipped to 495,000 from 502,000.
The unadjusted average price of a new single-family home plunged to $267,300 from $311,200. Meanwhile, the unadjusted median price dropped to $219,200 from $245,900 in the previous month.
Sales dropped in the South, West, and Midwest, and rose in the Northeast.
