--US April new single-family home sales -9.5% to 894,000 rate
--US March home sales revised to +2.3% from +4.2%
--US March home sales rate revised to 988,000 from 1.021 mln
--US April new home median price $165,600; March $163,600
--US April new 1-family home median price +1.8% from yr earlier
--US new single-family home sales level lowest since November
--US April home sales drop biggest since April 1997
--US revises single-family home sales data going back to Jan 1999

By Shihoko Goto,
Washington, May 24 (BridgeNews) - Sales of new single-family U.S. homes plunged 9.5% in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 894,000 units. The drop was the biggest since April 1997 and brought sales to their lowest level in 5 months. Sales were well below private analysts' median expectation for a pace of 982,000 units. March sales were revised downward as part of a benchmark revision going back to January 1999.
* * * The April sales rate was 6.0% above the year-ago pace of 843,000, and followed a revised 2.3% monthly gain in March to 988,000 units. March sales previously were reported at a record-breaking 1.021 million units, the departments of Commerce and Housing and Urban Development said Thursday.
The fall contrasts with a previously reported 1.5% increase in April housing starts to an annual rate of 1.609 million units. The April sales drop shows that the housing market has softened in a weaker economic environment. Yet, housing activity has been singled out by Federal Reserve and other officials as one of the bright spots in the U.S. economy. The sector has generally benefited from low mortgage rates, but they have risen in recent weeks amid expectations that the economy will rebound by next year.
REGIONAL BREAKDOWN:
Sales tumbled in all U.S. regions, with the steepest drop posted in the South, where they plunged 13.1% compared to March. They fell 10.9% in the Midwest, 6.3% in the Northeast and 1.4% in the West.
WHAT WAS EXPECTED:
Analysts surveyed by BridgeNews expected the annual rate of home sales to range from 950,000 to 1.037 million units in April.
OTHER DETAILS:
--An estimated 288,000 new homes were on the market at the end of April, representing a 3.9-month supply at the current sales rate, up from a revised 3.5-month supply at the end of March.
--83,000 new homes were actually sold in April, at a median price of $165,600. The median price was 1.8% above that of a year earlier. --The average April sales price was $199,700, down 3.4% from the year-earlier mean price.
--For the first four months of 2001, actual new home sales totaled 338,000, up 8.3% from the comparable year-earlier period