NEW HOME SALES DROP BY 26% IN 2007

New homes sales dropped by 26% in 2007, the biggest decline since recordkeeping began in 1963.

From The New York Times:

Some economists predict the market may start to recover in the summer. Others are less optimistic. “There is no sign of a bottom in any of these data,” wrote Ian C. Shepherdson, a London-based economist at High Frequency Economics. Last month alone, sales of new homes tumbled 4.7 percent, to a 604,000 annual rate, the smallest monthly sales figure since February 1995.

Prices also fell sharply. In December, the median price of a new home fell to $219,200, down 10.9 percent from December 2006.