New home sales dropped 7.6 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 609,000 units, the Commerce Department reported Monday. Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, pointed to a number of positive factors helping the housing market. "Homebuilder confidence is up and price growth has slowed, which is good news for first-time homebuyers, as are easing credit standards and low mortgage rates," she wrote in a research note.