The U.S. new home sales to a record low in May
Sales of new homes in the United States has declined more sharply than expected in May and reached a record low with the end of a tax credit related to real estate, official statistics show, adding to fears a slowdown of economic recovery.
These sales fell by 32.7% to 300,000 annualized, against 446,000 (revised) in April, ending two consecutive months of increases.
This is their biggest decline ever in percentage since the launch of this statistical series began in 1963.
Economists and analysts polled by Reuters on average had forecast 410,000 annualized sales figure of 504,000 after the originally announced for April.
Since the buyers had to sign a contract later than April 30 to qualify for federal tax credit, which expired, observers expected a slowdown in new housing last month.
The median sales price of new homes fell 1% between May and April fell to 200,900 dollars. In one year, prices fell 9.6%, evening their biggest drop since July 2009.