Last month’s sales were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 590,000, down 2 percent from January’s final figures. The median price of a new home sold last month was $244,100, down 3 percent from a year earlier.

The report also indicated that the battered housing industry still has backlog of unsold inventory. Builders said it took more than seven months to sell a completed home. At that rate, the nation’s new home inventory equals an almost 10-month supply.

In related news, the National Association of Realtors reported Monday that existing home slightly on the largest year-over-year drop in prices since the group began reporting that statistic in 1999. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price index released yesterday showed a record 11 percent annual drop in home prices, also the lowest level since the index was created eight years ago.