New home sales fall in Las Vegas, nationwide

Single Sign-On: You can use Facebook account to log in to LasVegasSun.com. (We will use your first and last name from your profile.)
Trusted Commenting: Facebook connected users automatically become trusted commenters.

Thursday, Feb. 27, 2003 | 10:59 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. new home sales fell in January by the most in nine years, possibly reflecting declining consumer confidence.

Home sales dropped to a 914,000-unit annual rate, the slowest in a year and down 15.1 percent from December's record 1.077 million-unit pace, the Commerce Department said today.

Dennis Smith, principle with Home Builders Research Inc., said Las Vegas' recorded new home sales for January totaled 1,548, compared to 2,362 in December.

Smith said the decline does not indicate a softening of the new home market in Las Vegas, pointing to the 1,922 permits pulled in January.

"I think it's just a number that indicates that we, for lack of a better term, cleaned out the tubes in December," he said. He said 2003 will be a strong and possibly a record year for new home sales locally.