By Jonathan House | The Wall Street Journal
New-home sales fell in February, the latest sign of severe weather and rising mortgage rates slowing the housing recovery.
Sales of newly built homes fell 3.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 440,000 from a month earlier, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. January’s strong gain was revised down, to an annual rate of 455,000.
New-home-sales data represent a small portion of homes purchased in the U.S. and can be subject to large revisions. But they provide a more current gauge of market conditions than some other indicators because they are tallied at the moment a contract is signed rather than at its closing.
