New Home Sales Collapse in March

WASHINGTON — Sales of new U.S. homes plummeted in March, as the spring buying season opened with sharp declines in the Northeast and South.

The Commerce Department said Thursday that new-home sales fell 11.4 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 481,000. This marks a swift reversal from an annual sales pace of 543,000 in February, which had been the strongest performance in seven years.

Purchases of new homes have been volatile on a monthly basis, although sales during the first quarter of 2015 are higher than in 2014. The volatility points to a real estate market still finding its footing in the aftermath of the housing bubble that triggered the Great Recession in 2007 and the weak recovery that has followed.

More