Existing home sales in the United States plunged 8.4 percent in March, the biggest one-month drop since January 1989, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported on Tuesday.

The drop left sales of previously-owned homes in March at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.12 million units, the slowest pace since June 2003.

Data showed that existing home sales fell by 10.9 percent in the Midwest and 9.1 percent in the West. In the Northeast, sales were down 8.2 percent, while the South saw a decline of 6.2 percent.

At the same time, the median price of an existing home, a typical market price where half of existing homes are sold for more and half sold for less, decreased 0.3 percent from a year agoto 217,000 dollars.

This marked the eighth straight monthly drop in median home prices, the longest such period of falling prices on record.

The NAR's chief economist David Lereah said that existing home sales plunged in March because of bad weather in February, which discouraged shoppers. Existing home sales are counted when the sales are closed.

Home sales were also depressed by the troubles in mortgage lending, Lereah said. Lenders have tightened standards with the rising delinquencies in mortgages especially in the sub primary market, where borrowers with weak credit histories obtained their loans, according to the economist.

The tightening is putting a downward pressure on home sales and prices by removing many potential buyers from the market.