TAX NEWS - June 2010

US house sales hit record low

Sales of new homes in the US plunged to a record low in May after a tax relief scheme was scrapped.

The Commerce Department said sales dropped 32.7% from April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 300,000 after the expiration of government initiative.

The pace was the slowest since records began in January 1963 and well below the 430,000 figure that most analysts had expected.

President Obama's administration moved to soften the blow by announcing it had released $1.5bn in funding to prevent foreclosures to five states hit hardest by the housing crisis: Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Nevada.