New Home Sales Off 4.3% in July

Washington, DC, August 24, 2006–Sales of new homes dropped 4.3% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.07 million, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

Inventories of unsold homes rose to an 11-year high, while median prices flattened out.

New-home sales are down 21.6% in the past year.

July’s sales were much lower than the 1.10 million expected by economists. Inventories of unsold homes rose 1.1% to a record 568,000 in July, representing a 6.5-month supply at the July sales rate.

The median sales price in July was up 0.3% year-over-year to $230,000.