The US housing market is in a sharp downturn

The sales of newly-built US properties totalled 770,000 in the year to September, said the Commerce Department.

The latest official data comes a day after figures showed that sales of existing US homes fell 8% last month.

This was the biggest year-on-year decline for non-new build properties in

16 years.

Recession fears

A growing number of economists now fear that the downturn in the US housing market could lead to a wider recession.

The Federal Reserve is now widely expected to try to soothe the economic woes with an interest rate cut next week.

The September new home sales figure from the Commerce Department was a 4.8% rise on August, although this is only after August's figure was revised down to 735,000.

Previously, the Commerce Department had calculated that 795,000 new homes were sold during August.