New home sales in the U.S. rose slightly more than anticipated, moving up 2.7% in September to an annual pace of 464k, yet the previous month's tumble was revised downward to a 12.6% decrease, according to a report from the Commerce Department on Monday.

Economists were expecting September data to fall 2.2% to 450k, from the originally reported August figure of 460k, which got revised down to 452k.

The 12.6% fall in August pushed the pace of sales to the slowest rate since January 1991. This 2.7% move upwards is decent news, but the pace of sales is still down 33.1% from one year ago.

Inventories fell 7.3% to a pace of 10.4 months, down from an upwardly revised 11.4-month supply in August, which was originally reported at 10.9 months.

The median sale price of new houses fell slightly to $218,400, down from $220,400 in August. Annually, prices have fallen 9.1%.

The Census report follows the existing home sales report from the National Association of Realtors on Friday, which unexpectedly rose 5.5% to a pace of 5.18 million sales.

By Patrick McGee and edited by Sarah Sussman
©CEP News Ltd. 2008