Washington. Dec. 24--Sales of new homes sank about 2.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.08 million, the Commerce Department estimated Wednesday.
It was the slowest sales pace since May.
The number of new homes on the market rose to 363,000, the highest in more than seven years. It represents a 4.1-month supply at the November pace, up from 4 months in October.
The median sales price in November jumped to a record $209,200, up 15.5 percent year-over-year. The average sales price rose 20.8 percent year-over-year to a record $274,400.
Sales in October were revised to 1.11 million. The sales pace peaked at 1.20 million in June, when mortgage rates touched four-decade lows near 5 percent.
Economists were expecting a sales rate of about 1.12 million in November, according to a survey conducted by CBS MarketWatch.
The sales data are extremely volatile and are subject to large sampling and other statistical errors. It can take five months to establish a new trend in sales, the government cautioned.
Over the past five months, the annual sales rate has averaged 1.13 million, compared with 1.16 million a month earlier.
Housing has been the strongest sector of the economy for the past three years, as the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates to boost interest-sensitive sectors such as housing and autos.
It's expected to be a record sales year for both new and existing homes.
So far in 2003, sales are up 11.6 percent to just over 1 million compared with 903,000 this time last year. In all of 2002, 973,000 new homes were sold.
