Sales of new homes plunged in November by the largest amount in nearly 12 years, providing the most dramatic evidence yet that the red-hot housing market over the last five years is starting to cool down.
The Commerce Department reported Friday that new single-family homes were sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.245 million units last month, a drop of 11.3 percent from October, when sales had surged to an all-time high.