New home sales drop 10.2 percent in month

Washington -- New home sales in the United States dropped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 309,000 in January, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Thursday.

Sales of new single-family homes declined 10.2 percent from December's revised rate of 344,000.

January's rate is 48.2 percent below January 2007, when home sales were at an adjusted rate of 597,000.

The median sales price of a new home sold in January was $201,000 with an average price of $234,600.

At the end of the month, there were 342,000 homes on the market, a 13.3-month supply of homes at the current sales rate, the Commerce Department said.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.