New home sales hit new lows

The Census Bureau reported(.pdf) new home sales fell to record lows last month and, after revisions to prior months' data (as shown below), inventory has skyrocketed.
December new home sales plunged 14.7 percent from November to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of just 331,000 units and downward revisions to prior months' data totaled another 40,000 pushing the inventory of unsold homes to 12.9 months of supply, also a record.

For the entire year of 2008, new home sales fell to just 482,000 units, the lowest level in 26 years, representing a decline of 38 percent from 2007.

The median price for a new home plunged 6.0 percent, from $219,700 in November to $206,500 in December, and is now down 9.3 percent on a year-over-year basis.