There was more bad news on the U.S. housing front on Wednesday as new-home sales tumbled to the lowest level in 17 years during October, while prices kept retreating.

The collapse of the U.S. housing markets helped to spark the turmoil that grips global economies and financial markets.

Sales of single-family homes decreased by 5.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 433,000, the U.S. Commerce Department said. September new-home sales rose 0.7% to an annual rate to 457,000; originally, the government said September sales climbed 2.7% to 464,000.

Economists had called for a 3.0% drop in sales to a 450,000 annual rate. The level of 433,000 was the lowest since 401,000 in January 1991.

Year over year, new-home sales were 40.1% lower than the level in October 2007.

The U.S. Commerce Department report showed there were an estimated 381,000 homes for sale at the end of October, representing a 11.1 months’ supply at the current sales rate. In September, an estimated 414,000 were for sale, a 10.9 months’ inventory.

The median price of a new home fell 7% to US$218,000 in October, down from US$234,300 in October 2007. The average price decreased 12.2% to US$272,300 from US$310,100 a year earlier. In September this year, the median price was US$221,700 and the average was US$283,700.