The Census Bureau reported that new homes sales fell in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 342,000, a 0.6% decline from Aprils 344,00) rate. However, the April number was revised down from an initial read of 352,000.The May rate was a fairly significant disappointment relative to expectations of a 360,000 annual rate. On a year-over-year basis, sales are down 32.8%.There was some good news in the report. For starters, all of the weakness was concentrated in one region, namely the South, where sales were off 8.5% for the month, and 35.9% versus May 2008. The South is by far the biggest and most important of the four census regions when it comes to housing. Even with the decline, it represented 53.8% of all new home sales.That amounts to a sharp decline from the 58.4% share in April. This is because the ...