Fewer U.S. new homes than forecast were sold in June and data for the prior month was revised down by a record, painting a troubling picture of a market struggling to gain traction.
Sales declined 8.1 percent to a 406,000 annualized pace, the fewest since March and lower than any projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. That followed a May rate of 442,000 that was 12.3 percent less than estimated last month.