Purchases of new homes plunged 13.4% in July to only 394,000, the steepest drop in years underscoring the uneven pace of recovery. Worse, April, May and June new home sales were revised sharply lower and are officially in the books at just 446,000, 439,000 and 445,000 respectively. Moreover, the sales rate is only 6.8% higher year-over-year, hardly breakneck improvement. This explains why residential construction employment growth has barely increased.