Homebuilder shares fall with new home sales

NEW YORK, June 23 (Reuters) - Shares of homebuilders fell on Wednesday after the Commerce Department said sales of new houses dropped a record 32.7 percent in May to their lowest level in at least four decades.

The Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction Index .DJUSHB fell 0.5 percent. Beazer Homes USA Inc (BZH.N) shares were down 2.1 percent at $3.80, while PulteGroup Inc (PHM.N), the second-largest U.S. homebuilder, was down 1 percent at $8.77.

The Commerce Department said on Wednesday that single-family home sales tumbled to a 300,000-unit annual rate, the lowest level since the series was started in 1963. [ID:nLDE65M1WY]

Builder shares also fell on Tuesday on worse-than-expected existing-home sales, which fell 2.2 percent in April compared with expectations of a 7.5 percent increase, according to a note from Raymond James analyst Buck Horne. (Reporting by Helen Chernikoff; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)