Perhaps people were burdened by holiday bills last month. Whatever the reason, they did not buy as many new homes as they did in December.
Sales of new single-family homes were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.233 million in January 2006, some 5% below the revised December rate of 1.298 million, according to data jointly released Feb. 27 by the U.S. Commerce Department and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The median price of new homes sold in January was $238,100; the average sales price was $291,600.
