New homes sales retreat in August from 9-year high

Washington

PURCHASES of new US homes dropped in August after surging a month earlier to the fastest pace since 2007, representing a pause in momentum within residential real estate.

Sales fell 7.6 per cent to a 609,000 annualised pace, from a revised 659,000 rate in the prior month that was the strongest since October 2007, figures from the Commerce Department showed on Monday in Washington. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey called for 600,000. Prices fell from a year earlier to the lowest level in almost two years.