New home sales fell in August to the slowest pace in 17 years, while the average sales price fell by the largest amount on record, according to the Commerce Department. New homes sales fell by 11.5% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual sales rate of 460,000 units, the slowest sales pace since January 1991.
It was a much bigger sales decline than the 1% drop that economists had been expecting. The average price of a new home sold in August dropped by a record amount of 11.8% to $263,900, compared to the July average of $299,100. The median price was also down, falling 5.5% to $221,900.
