Sales of new homes fell in February for the fourth straight month, pushing activity down to a 13-year low as the steep slump in housing continued.

Discouraging data about the Roanoke Valley housing market is out, too. The absorption rate, a measure of unsold inventory, worsened substantially in recent months.

The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that new home sales dropped 1.8 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 590,000 units, the slowest sales pace since February 1995. The decline was slightly worse than expected.

The median price of a home sold last month dropped to $244,100, down 2.7 percent from the level of a year ago.

The prolonged slump in housing has dragged down overall economic activity. Many analysts believe the slump could combine with a multitude of other problems including a severe credit crunch, soaring energy prices and plunging consumer confidence, to push the country into a full-blown recession.

The number of unsold homes on the market nationwide at the end of the month represented a 9.8 months' supply at the February sales pace, the same as in January. That was the highest inventory level in more than 26 years and reflects the fact that increased numbers of mortgage foreclosures are dumping even more homes on an already glutted market.

By comparison, the number of unsold, Realtor-listed single-family homes in the Roanoke Valley represented a 12.9 months' supply at February's sales pace here, according to Roanoke Realtor Marty Martin.

That was a worsening of the picture from a year earlier, when the unsold inventory represented an 8.1 months' supply, and two years earlier, when the figure was 6.8 months, Martin said.

According to the Roanoke Valley Association of Realtors, there were 259 homes put under contract in February at an average sales price of $207,287.

While the average sales price was basically unchanged over 2007, the number of homes changing hands fell more than 20 percent.

With people who have marginal credit finding it much more difficult to take out loans, that segment of the buyer market is greatly diminished, Martin said. Along with the normal winter slowdown in home sales, the result is a market that appears at least temporarily depressed, Martin said.

Martin said he didn't put a single house under contract between October 2007 and the middle of last month, compared with four or five during the same period a year earlier.

But activity is picking up: Martin put three homes under contract during the first two weeks of March, he said.

"The market will improve. The next month or two will really dictate a lot about how much it will improve," he said.

Staff writer Jeff Sturgeon contributed to this report.