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New home sales drop again
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March 29, 1999: 11:02 a.m. ET
February rate falls 2% to 881,000, much lower than analysts predicted
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - New-home sales dropped 2 percent in February, largely because of record housing prices, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Monday.
Sales of new one-family houses in February dipped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 881,000, down from 899,000 in January. Analysts had predicted sales of at least 912,000 units for February.
Last November, new home sales hit a record high with a rate of 985,000 units.
For February, new home prices rose to a record average of $187,200, the Commerce Department reported. The previous record was $186,500, set last August.
The Midwest region was the only area of the country where new-home sales jumped in February, rising 22.9 percent to 177,000 units a year. Sales fell 8.7 percent in the West, to 231,000 units a year, and dropped 7.4 percent in the South to an annual rate of 386,000. Sales were steady at 86,000 a year in the Northeast.
The data had no apparent effect on the bond market. Shortly after the report was released, the benchmark 30-year U.S. Treasury bond was down 15/32 for a yield of 5.621.
Sales of existing homes also dropped in February. Last week, the National Association of Realtors reported that the annual home resale figure for February was 5.02 million units, down from a record 5.07 million in January.
-- from staff and wire reports
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