Consumer Confidential: Home sales, Taco Bell, top Pepsi brands

Here’s your three-steps-to-heaven Thursday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

-- It was a bad year for builders. Sales of new homes declined in December for the first time in four months, capping the slowest year on record. Purchases of single-family properties decreased 2.2% to a 307,000 annual pace, according to the Commerce Department. The threat of further price declines may be dissuading some Americans from buying a new home even with mortgage rates near all-time lows and more people finding work. Following a lull in 2011, a wave of foreclosures may hamper the recovery in real estate as more distressed properties are put on the market. (Bloomberg)

-- Taco Bell is ready for breakfast. The chain has introduced a breakfast menu at almost 800 restaurants. The rollout adds to the scramble among fast-food heavyweights competing for the morning allegiance of on-the-go consumers. If the launch goes as expected, Taco Bell hopes its breakfast burritos will be displayed on store menu boards nationwide along with its regular line of tacos, chalupas and gorditas by the start of 2014. The chain’s breakfast staples include burritos stuffed with eggs and either sausage, bacon or steak; sausage and egg wraps; hash browns; hot or iced coffee, and orange juice. (Associated Press)

-- Speaking of the obesity crisis, PepsiCo says that Diet Mountain Dew, Brisk tea and Starbucks bottled beverages each generate at least $1 billion in annual sales. The food and beverage giant now boasts 22 billion-dollar brands, including Aquafina, Cheetos, Doritos, Diet Pepsi, Gatorade, Lay’s, Lipton, Pepsi, Pepsi Max, Ruffles, Quaker, Tostitos and Tropicana. PepsiCo has manufactured and distributed Brisk and Starbucks products through partnerships with Unilever and Starbucks since the early 1990s. Diet Mountain Dew was introduced in 1988. According to the company, it’s now the top-selling diet soft drink by volume in convenience stores and gas stations. (Chicago Tribune)