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1/29/2004
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that sales
of new homes ended 2003 on a lackluster note, declining by 5.1 percent in December
from November. Economists were forecasting a rise. The weakness was concentrated
in the West and the South. For all of 2003, however, home sales totaled
a record high of 1.09 million as low mortgage rates beckoned buyers. That represented
an 11.5 percent jump from 2002, the previous best-year ever for sales. The average
sales price of a new home last year was $244,800, a record high and up from $228,700
in 2002. In another report, orders for big-ticket goods were flat in December
after taking a dive in November, highlighting the struggles America's manufacturers
are encountering as they try to get on firm footing. The latest snapshot of
manufacturing activity reported by the Commerce Department on Wednesday disappointed
economists, who were forecasting a solid 2 percent rebound in orders for costly
manufactured goods in December. The flat reading in orders for "durable goods"
- manufactured items expected to last at least three years - followed a 2.3 percent
drop in November. That weak performance raised questions about how firm a grip
manufacturers had on their own recovery. For all of 2003, however, orders for
durable goods rose by 2.8 percent from 2002. That marked the largest increase
since 2000, when orders went up by 3.3 percent. Continue
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