–Sales Down In All Four Regions; Home Supply Flat In February
By Kevin Kastner
WASHINGTON (MNI) – The pace of new single-family home sales fell
16.9% to a record low 250,000 annual rate in February, another
indication of continued weakness in the housing sector, data released
Wednesday by the Commerce Department showed.
Home sales were down sharply in all four regions of the country,
with the largest drop a 57.1% decline in the Northeast region. Sales in
the Midwest fell 27.5%, while sales were down 14.7% in West and 6.3% in
the large South region.
Analysts had expected a slight increase in sales to a 290,000
seasonally adjusted annual rate. There were strong upward revisions to
sales in the previous two months.
On an unadjusted basis, new home sales were down 9.5% from January
to a record low 19,000. Unadjusted sales were down 29.6% from a year
ago.
The supply of homes for sale held steady at 186,000 in February,
but the decline in sales allowed the months supply to rise to 8.9 months
from 7.4 months in January.
The median sales price fell a record 13.9% to $202,100 in February,
and was down 8.9% from a year ago.
** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **
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