By Allan Lengel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 24, 2008 2:58 PM

In another worrisome sign for the battered housing industry, sales of new single-family houses plunged in March to a 16 1/2 year low while inventory grew and prices dropped, according to a new government report.

"Nobody was really expecting great numbers, but this is really awful," said Charles W. McMillion, chief economist for MBG Information Services in Washington. "When sales are falling sharply, when prices are falling and inventories are rising, it takes a real leap of faith to identify a bottom."

New-house sales dropped by 8.5 percent in March, compared with February, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 526,000, the slowest pace since October 1991, according to a report released today by the Department of Commerce.

The median price of a home in March was $227,600, down 13.3 percent from the same month a year ago, representing the biggest year-to-year drop since July 1970.

Inventory of new homes for sales jumped from a 9.8-month supply in February to 11 months in March. Six months is considered healthy.

"It's not just a housing crisis, it's really a debt crisis throughout the economy," McMillion said.