New Home Sales Skid 6.6%

New Home Sales Skid 6.6%

 

Real estate and home building markets took another major blow as a recently released government reading showed a bigger than expected drop in new home sales. 

 

New homes sold at an annual pace of 834,000 in June, down 6.6 percent from the revised 893,000 rate in May.  That left sales down 22.3 percent from year-ago levels.

 

The nation's top builders have been hammered by not only weak sales, but also falling prices.  The median price of a new home fell to $237,900 in June, down 2.2 percent from $243,200 a year earlier.

 

Part of the pricing problem is rising mortgage rates and problems in the subprime mortgage market, both of which are raising the cost of borrowing for potential buyers and limiting how much they can afford to borrow. 

 

But a glut of new homes on the market has also pushed prices down.  There were 537,000 new houses for sale at the end of June, unchanged from May despite builders putting a break on new home construction.  That represents a 7.8-month supply of homes.