Sales of new homes fell 1.8% across the US in February as the property market remained mired in one of its worst downturns in decades.
The US Commerce Department said in a monthly snapshot that new home sales declined to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 590,000 properties. Most economists had expected sales to fall, but January sales were revised higher to a sales pace of 601,000 units.
New home sales have tumbled 29.8% in the past 12 months as a multi-year property slump continues to drag down sales despite the Federal Reserve's interest rate-cutting campaign.
The Fed has slashed US interest rates since September, partly in a bid to revitalise the ailing property market.
The average price of a new home increased 8.2% from a month earlier to $244,100, however, suggesting that recent price declines might be tempting more buyers back into the market. The average sales price climbed 4.9% for the month to $296,400.
Separate figures showed that new orders for long-lasting US-made manufactured goods unexpectedly fell 1.7% during February.
A key gauge of companies' appetite for investment also shrank, according to the data which will reinforce concern about the US economy.
Economists had expected overall durable goods orders to rise 0.8% in February, rebounding from January's revised fall of 4.7%.
Non-military capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched indicator of business spending, declined 2.6% after falling 1.8% in January, the Commerce Department said. It was the biggest decline since a 3% fall in October 2007.
Machinery orders slumped 13.3%, the steepest decline since records began in 1992, although the Commerce Department noted that the previous two months had both showed gains.
The Institute for Supply Management had already reported that the US manufacturing sector contracted in February.
The headline durable goods report can be buffeted sharply from month to month by aircraft orders from aerospace giant Boeing. The Commerce Department said civilian aircraft orders rose 5.4% in February, while orders excluding transport declined 2.6% in the largest fall in more than a year.
