WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A report released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday showed a substantial pullback by new home sales in the U.S. in the month of January.
The Commerce Department said new home sales plunged by 10.5 percent to an annual rate of 657,000 in January after spiking by 8.1 percent to an upwardly revised rate of 734,000 in December.
Economists had expected new home sales to slump by 2.6 percent to an annual rate of 680,000 from the 698,000 originally reported for the previous month.
The sharp pullback by new home sales came amid steep drops in the Northeast, Midwest and South, while new home sales in the West saw a notable increase.
The report also said the median sales price of new houses sold in January was $446,300, up 7.5 percent from $415,000 in December and up 3.7 percent from $430,400 in the same month last year.
The estimate of new houses for sale at the end of January was 495,000, representing 9.0 months of supply at the current sales rate. The months of supply is up from 8.0 in December and 8.3 a year ago.
Last Friday, the National Association of Realtors released a separate report showing existing home sales in the U.S. also pulled back sharply in the month of January.
NAR said existing home sales plunged by 4.9 percent to an annual rate of 4.08 million in January after surging by 2.9 percent to an upwardly revised rate of 4.29 million in December.
Economists had expected existing home sales to tumble by 2.8 percent to an annual rate of 4.12 million from the 4.24 million originally reported for the previous month.
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