Sales of new single-family homes were down nationwide in January, according to new statistics released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The government reported that 607,000 sales of new homes were recorded in January, 6.9 percent below the number in December 2018 and down 4.1 percent from January 2018. Sales decreased by the greatest amount year-over-year in the Midwest, followed by the Northeast, the South and the West.