Paul Davidson

USA TODAY

New home sales fell 3.3% last month in another sign that the housing market weakened amid extreme winter weather.

Builders sold homes at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 440,000 in February — a five-month low — down from January's 455,000, which was revised lower, the Census Bureau said Tuesday. Census initially estimated that homes were sold at annual rate of 468,000 in January, which would have been a five-year high.

However, home sales for November and December were revised up by 14,000, offsetting January's downward revision.

For February, economists had estimated that new homes were sold at a 445,000 rate.

Adverse winter weather has been partly blamed for a decline in several housing market indicators recently, including housing starts and existing home sales.

But other forces may also be holding down new home sales, including mortgage rates that have drifted higher since last summer and an unusually low inventory of new homes. Last month, 189,000 homes were for sale, a 5.2 month supply. That's somewhat higher than in previous months but lower than the normal six-month supply. Low inventories have pushed up prices which dampens sales.

The median sales price of new home sales rose to $261,800 from $260,100.