New Home Sales Hit Record Low

Sales of new homes fell 14.7 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 331,000 from 388,000 in November, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.That sales pace is the lowest recorded in the last 46 years.

Builders sold 482,000 homes in 2008, the fewest since 1982, when 412,000 were sold, the Commerce Department said. Also, the median sales price fell about 7 percent to $230,600, from $247,900 in 2007.Sales in December were off 15 percent from the previous month and prices were 9.3 percent lower than a year earlier, slowed by the financial crisis, which made it hard for buyers to get mortgages.Source:

The Associated Press (01/29/2009)