The pace of new-home sales in the U.S. sank 11.5% in September to an annual rate of 468,000, marking the lowest level in 10 months. Wall Street had expected sales to flatline or fall slightly after a strong surge earlier in the year, but the dropoff was much sharper than expected. Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast sales to achieve a seasonally adjusted 550,000 rate. Sales for August were also revised down to a 529,000 pace from an original 552,000, which would have been a postrecession high. Although sales fell in all regions, the Northeast experienced an unusually large 62% decline that could owe to ... (full story)