New US home sales unexpectedly fell in May and were down almost a 33 percent down from last-year's levels, a government report said Wednesday.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that new home sales dropped 0.6 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 342,000. That was from a downwardly revised April rate of 344,000. Sales were down nearly 33 percent from May last year.

The drop demonstrates that the housing market’s recovery is likely to be longer. Inventory of new homes for sale at the end of May was 292,000 down more than 2 percent from April. At this slow-moving rate of sales that is a 10-month supply.

This is a big difference from existing homes sales. On Tuesday, the National Association of Realtors reported that sales of those properties rose 2.4% in May, as prices fell nearly 17% from a year ago.

The median and average price increases indicates that single-family home sales may have already hit bottom.

The median sales price of new homes rose to $221,600 in May, up 4.2 percent from a revised $212,600 in April and but down 3.4 percent from the median price of $229,300 in May 2008.

The average sales price in May was $274,300, up more than 5 percent from a revised $260,800 in April.