New Home Sales Dip

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sales of new homes dropped in July by the largest amount since February while the inventory of unsold homes climbed to a record high.

Piling on more proof that the housing boom is over, the Commerce Department reported Thursday that new home sales fell by 4.3 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 1.072 million units. The decline was the largest since an 11.5 percent plunge in February.

Sales of both new and existing homes set records for five consecutive years as the housing industry enjoyed a boom powered by the lowest mortgage rates in four decades. But rates have been steadily rising this year as the Federal Reserve tightens credit conditions as a way to slow the economy and keep inflation under control.

Analysts expect home sales to drop by some 10 percent this year.



In other economic news, orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods fell 2.4 percent in July as demand for aircraft and automobiles weakened.

And the Labor Department reported that the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits last week slipped by 1,000 to 313,000.

Prospective home buyers have turned cautious about making such a big-ticket purchase as mortgage rates have gone up and uncertainty has risen over whether the economy and job creation will keep slowing, analysts said.

The government reported that the median price of a new home was $230,000 in July, down from $233,800 in June and up from $229,200 a year ago.