File - A "For Sale" sign is in place in front of a residence at 76th Court and Whitcomb Street in Merrillville, Indiana, on Feb. 2, 2019. (Joe Puchek / Post-Tribune)

       WASHINGTON — U.S. sales of new homes edged up 0.4% last month, coming in below expectations as housing prices continued to climb.

       The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that sales of new single-family homes rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 745,000 last month from 742,000 in September. Economists had expected October new home sales to come in at a 795,000 annual pace. And the September sales rate was revised sharply lower from 800,000 in Commerce’s original report.

       New home sales were down 23% from a year earlier.

       The median price of a new home, the point where half the homes sold for more and half for less, rose to a record $407,700 last month, up nearly 18% from a year earlier.

       New home sales rose 11% from September to October in the Midwest and 0.2% in the South. They fell 11.8% in the Northeast and 1.1% in the West.

       The housing market has been hot, thanks to rock-bottom mortgage rates and pent-up demand from consumers locked in last year by the pandemic.

       On Monday, the National Association of Realtors reported that sales of previously occupied homes rose 0.8% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.3 million, strongest annual pace since January.

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