U.S. home resales in sharp decline

WASHINGTON — Sales of existing U.S. homes dropped dramatically in February, with the National Association of Realtors announcing a decrease of 7.1% to an annual rate of 5.08 million units. The U.S. economy has so far stood apart from generally sluggish global patterns but the newly released data may show cracks in its resilience. According to Reuters, sales have been highly unstable since new mortgage regulations went into effect in the U.S. in October, and prone to extreme highs and lows. The decline outstripped the expectations of economists, who foresaw a drop of just 2.8%. In the Northeast, sales plummeted by more than 17%. Compared to the same time last year, however, sales rose by 2.2%.