The pace of new home sales fell to its lowest level in 17 years in August, according to a key government report released Thursday that signaled more dismal news for the housing sector in coming months.
August sales came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 460,000, the Census Bureau report showed, down 11.5% from a revised 520,000 in July. The reading was well below the consensus forecast of 513,000, according to economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
The rate of sales was down 34.5% from a year earlier. Sales were at their lowest pace since January 1991, when the first Gulf War started, and the economy was near the bottom of a recession and undergoing an oil price shock. Excluding that month, you’d have to go all the way back to August 1982 to find a rate of sales so low.
“It’s a stunning decline, but we’re still going to be dealing with a tough market well into 2009 and maybe even 2010,” said Mike Larson, an analyst with Weiss Research. “All indicators say we’re heading into a recession, if we’re not already in one.”
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