Sales of New Homes Slide

Los Angeles Times (02/28/08); Palmer, Doug
January new-home sales slid 2.8 percent to the lowest level seen in 13 years, the U.S. Commerce Department has reported. Economists had predicted sales to come in at a rate of 600,000 last month; but the government statistics showed the figure short of that expectation, with only 588,000 new homes purchased. In addition to the drop-off in sales activity, the Commerce Department also noted that the median price of new homes was down. The news further stoked recession fears and raised expectations of more interest-rate reductions by the Federal Reserve in March.