U.S. New-Home Sales Fall to Five-Month Low, Missing Forecast

Sales of new U.S. homes cooled for a third month in December, signaling a potential pullback after purchases climbed to some of the best levels in more than a decade amid lower borrowing costs and a solid labor market.

Single-family home sales fell 0.4% to a 694,000 annualized pace, the weakest since July and below all economist estimates in Bloomberg’s survey, while the November figure was revised down to 697,000, government data showed Monday. The median sales price edged up 0.5% from a year earlier to $331,400.