New-home Sales Fell in February for Second Month

WASHINGTON — Sales of U.S. new homes fell in February for the second straight month, a reminder that the depressed housing market remains weak despite some improvement.

The Commerce Department said Friday that new-home sales dropped 1.6 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 313,000 homes. Sales have fallen nearly 7 percent since December.

While a mild winter and three months of strong job growth have lifted re-sales, those conditions haven’t benefited the new-home market. The current pace is less than half the 700,000 that economists consider to be healthy.

Economists cautioned that the housing market is a long way from fully recovering.

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