New home sales in the United States fell by 2.9 percent in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 407,000 units, the lowest level since January 1991, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

The drop in new home sales was bigger than analysts had expected and left sales 35.3 percent below the level a year ago.

Regionally, new home sales rose by 14.3 percent in the Northeast last month and were up 11.0 percent in the West. In the Midwest, however, sales plunged by 16.4 percent. Sales in the South also declined by 7.1 percent.

The median price of a new home dropped by 11.5 percent in November from the year-ago level to US$220,400. That was the biggest year-on-year price decline since a 12.7 percent fall in March this year.

Inventories of unsold new homes at the end of November totaled 374,000 units, representing a supply of 11.5 months at the current sales rate, up from 10.8 months for October.

Weak sales of new homes showed that the country is still in the grip of a severe housing slump, which many analysts believe will last well into next year given the difficult sales environment.

(Xinhua News Agency December 24, 2008)