New-home sales dropped to an all-time low in February, falling an estimated 16.9 percent from January 2011 and sinking 28 percent compared to February 2010, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 250,000, the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development reported today.

The rate of single-family new-home sales in February was down 82 percent from a peak of 1.39 million, set in July 2005. The previous all-time low of 274,000, in records dating back to 1963, was set in August 2010.