New U.S. home sales sank overall to their lowest level in seven years in August and prices took a tumble, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

Sales of single-family homes decreased by 8.3 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 795,000, lowest since 793,000 in June 2000, the Wall Street Journal said.

On a year-to-year basis, new home sales were 21.2 percent lower than on this date in 2006.

Notable exceptions showed sales up 42.3 percent in the Northeast and 20.5 percent in the Midwest. Sales were down 20.8 percent in the West and 14.7 percent in the South.

The median price of a new home generally decreased by 7.5 percent to $225,700 in August from $243,900 in August 2006. The average price declined by 8 percent to $292,000 from $317,300 a year earlier. In July 2007, the median price was $246,200 and the average was $306,200.  // Copyright 2007 by United Press International


Publication date: 28 September 2007   

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