Washington, DC, Feb. 27--New home sales dropped in January by the largest amount in nine years. Sales of new single family homes fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 914,000, representing a 15.1% drop from the previous month, when sales reached a record monthly level, according to the Commerce Department. The performance was much weaker than analysts were expecting.
In the Midwest, sales plummeted 42.2% in January. In the South, sales fell 12.9%, and in the West, they dipped 1.4%. The Northeast, however, saw sales jump 43.5%.
