Shares in local homebuilders plunged Monday morning after the Commerce Department reported that new-home sales plunged by a record amount in 2007 while prices posted the weakest showing in more than 15 years.

The government report said that sales of new homes dropped by 26 percent last year, for a total of 774,000, culminating in the worst sales year on record. Previously, the largest drop in year-over-year sales was in 1980, when sales plunged 23 percent.

Shares in Los Angeles-based KB Home dropped 5.5 percent to $22.41 in early trading while fellow homebuilder, Calabasas-based Ryland Group Corp., lost 5 percent to $28.06.

The report also said the median price of a new home edged up only 0.2 percent to $246,900, which was the smallest increase since prices fell 2.4 percent in 1991.

The national drop in sales illustrated the weakness in every part of the country, the report said. However, home sales in the Northeast were able to budge up 1.6 percent for the year. It was the only region to see an uptick in sales.

Sales in the West declined 32 percent; while sales in the Midwest dropped 27 percent and slipped 26 percent in the South.

Experts said that prices will likely keep falling in early 2008 as builders continue to struggle to work down the glut of homes. There is currently a 9.6 month-supply of new homes on the market.