WASHINGTON -- The government reported Thursday that new home sales fell more steeply than expected last month. The decline of more than 8 percent took home sales down to the lowest level in seven years.
As builders worked more aggressively to trim bloated supplies of unsold homes, prices were coming down. The Commerce Department said the median price in August dropped 7.5 percent from a year earlier to more than $225,000 dollars. That was the biggest percentage drop in nearly 37 years.
Regionally, the sales picture was mixed. Sales fell in the South and West last month, but rose in the Northeast and Midwest.
