INSTANT VIEW: Reaction to new home sales data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sales of new single-family U.S. homes fell 1.8 percent in February while the median sales price was down from a year ago and inventories fell modestly.

KEY POINTS: * The pace of sales fell to an annual rate of 590,000 from an upwardly revised rate of 601,000 in January, the Commerce Department said. * Economists polled by Reuters were expecting February sales to fall to a 580,000 rate from the previously reported rate of 588,000 in January. * The inventory of unsold homes fell 2.1 percent to 471,000 which, at the current sales pace, would take 9.8 months to clear and matched the months' supply in January. * The February median sales price for a new home was down 2.7 percent from the year-ago level. Still, the median home price was up 8.2 percent to $244,100 in February from the $225,600 of the previous month.

COMMENTS:

T.J. MARTA, FIXED INCOME STRATEGIST, RBC CAPITAL MARKETS, NEW YORK:

"The market continues to correct, both in terms of sales volume and price, and the high inventories indicate that this correction has months and quarters to run in terms of the drag on residential investment."

TOM SOWANICK, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, CLEARBROOK FINANCIAL LLC, PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY:

"Home sales are better-than-expected and last month's number was revised higher as well. The interesting fact is that weekly loan applications for new purchases all rose by 10.6 percent, so today's better-than-expected home sales looks sustainable."

JAMES O'SULLIVAN, ECONOMIST, UBS SECURITIES LLC, STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT: