New home sales decline

Sales of new single-family homes declined to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 355,000 in November, according to a report released Wednesday by the U.S. Commerce Department. The November pace is down 11.3% from October, and down 9.0% from November 2008.

The report follows by a single day the glowing existing-home sales report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The rate of existing-home sales in November was up 44.1% from a year ago, and up 7.4% from October, according to the NAR.

In today's report, the Commerce Department pointed to the median sales price of new houses sold in November 2009 as $217,400, up from $209,400 in October but down from $221,600 in November 2008.The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of November was 235,000. This represents a supply of 7.9 months at the current sales rate.