With the decline in new home sales in December 09′, it capped the weakest year on record for new home sales.
Only 374,000 homes were sold last year, down 23 percent from a year earlier and the weakest year on records dating back to 1963. December’s sales were nearly 9 percent below the same month last year.
The median sales price of $221,300 in December was down nearly 4 percent from $229,600 a year earlier, but up about 5 percent from November’s median of $210,300.
There were 231,000 new homes for sale at the end of December, down about 2 percent from November and the lowest inventory level since April 1971. But at the current lackluster sales pace, that still represents 8 months of supply — above a healthy level of around 6 or 7 months.