Washington, DC, Nov. 26--Sales of new homes posted a larger-than-expected slide in October, a Commerce Department report showed on Wednesday in another sign the once-torrid U.S. housing market is easing a bit.
Commerce said purchases of new single-family homes fell 3.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted 1.105 million annual rate, a slower pace than Wall Street analysts had projected. The October sales rate was the weakest since May's 1.081 million pace.
September sales, initially reported as a 0.2 percent decline, were revised to a 1.9 percent drop after an upward revision to August sales.
The report shows the housing market, which surged earlier in the year on the back of extremely low mortgage interest rates, is losing a bit of its bounce as rates have backed up a bit in recent months.
