US:New home sales slowest in at least a half-century

Home construction in the United States is all but coming to a halt. Americans are on track to buy fewer new homes than in any year since the government began keeping data almost a half-century ago. Sales are now just half the pace of 1963 -- even though there are 120 million more people in the United States now. Banks are imposing tougher standards for loans and requiring bigger down payments. And many people are nervous about entering the market, fearful that home prices have yet to reach the bottom.