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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowNew-home sales tumbled to a record-low annual pace in January and there’s no relief in sight as mounting damage from the collapsed housing market pushes the country deeper into recession.
The Commerce Department reported today that sales fell 10.2 percent, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 309,000, the worst showing on records going back to 1963. It was a weaker showing than the pace of 330,000 that economists expected, and shattered the previous all-time monthly low set in September 1981.
Only the Northeast saw sales rise in January from the previous month.
With nationwide sales sagging, an inventory barometer also ballooned to a record high. The government said it would take 13.3 months at the current sales pace to exhaust supply. That puts even more downward pressure on prices.
The median sales price fell to $201,100 in January, a record 9.9-percent drop from the previous month. The average home price also dropped to $234,600 last month, a 9.8- percent decline from December.
Fallout from the housing crisis is one of the biggest problems facing the country. It has figured prominently into the U.S. recession, now in its second year. Foreclosures have spiked, financial companies have racked up multibillion-dollar losses and home builders have been clobbered.
The Obama administration has unveiled a $75 billion plan to curb foreclosures, which are aggravating problems in the housing market and the overall economy. Experts aren’t sure whether the plan will truly help ease the crisis.
In January, new-home sales fell 5.6 percent in the Midwest. They dropped 6.5 percent in the South and plunged 28 percent in the West. Sales rose 12.5 percent in the Northeast.
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