Prices post nearly a 10% decline from a year earlier and more than 15% from peak; lower prices lift September sales 5.3%.
By Chris Isidore
Oct. 26, 2006 -- NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- New home prices took their biggest hit in more than 35 years in September, the government said Thursday, the latest sign that builders are struggling to unload a glut of unsold homes as the nation's real estate market cools.
The lower prices may have worked, as the annual pace of new home sales climbed 5.3 percent to 1.08 million last month, according to the Census Bureau report. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a reading of 1.05 million, which would have been flat with the initial August reading. But the median price of a new home tumbled 9.7 percent from a year earlier to $217,100. It was the sharpest drop since December 1970, when prices posted an 11.2 percent decline, and was the fourth largest year-over-year decline on record.
The September price slump also marked a 9.3 percent decline from August and a 15.5 percent drop from the record high price of $257,700 posted in April of this year.
In addition, the government's measure of prices doesn't capture all the incentives such as free closing costs that many builders have been offering to boost sales.
The collapse in pricing is likely due to the oversupply of homes on the market, due greatly to the building boom of last year.
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