US new home sales drop to slowest pace in seven months in June

Sales of new single-family homes in the US fell to their slowest pace in seven months in June, figures released on Friday showed.

According to figures released by the Commerce Department, new home sales dropped 6.8% last month to an annual rate of 482,000, falling way short of the 550,000 reading analysts had expected, while May’s initial rate of 546,000 was revised downward to 517,000.

However, June’s sales pace represented an 18.1% increase year-on-year, while the median price of new homes declined 1.8% from the corresponding period in 2014 to $281,800.