WASHINGTON–September sales of new homes dropped 3.6 percent from the August level, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 402,000, according to figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The September rate was also 7.8 percent less than September of last year, the Census Bureau said. Joe Robson, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, put much of the blame for the “critical loss” in sales momentum to the upcoming expiration of the $8,000 first-time home buyer’s tax credit. “For the most part, September was too late to sign a deal that could be completed by the time the credit expires at the end of November,” Robson said in an NAHB statement. Robson reiterated the association’s call for an extension of the tax credit.
David Crowe, chief economist for the NAHB, said the threat of the credit’s expiration and the nation’s shaky job market “make the likelihood of improving home sales extremely remote” in the months ahead.