US new home sales slide to record low

NEW home sales in the US unexpectedly plunged in January to a record low, erasing all gains made in the market during the past year.

Demand for single-family homes fell 11.2 per cent from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 309,000, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had estimated sales would rise 3.8 per cent, to 355,000.

"There are no words for today's new-home sales report other than terrible," said Miller Tabak analyst Dan Greenhaus.

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