Sales of new single-family houses in the U.S. dropped 7.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 593,000 in January from an upwardly revised rate of 643,000 in December 2017, according to the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Year over year, new home sales decreased 1.0% from the 599,000 estimate reported by the agencies in January 2017.

The median sales price of new houses sold last month was $323,000, with an average sales price of $382,700.

About 301,000 new houses were available for sale at the end of January on a seasonally adjusted basis, representing a supply of 6.1 months at the current sales rate.