· Sales
new single-family homes in July rose 2.4% to 515,000. The increase,
however, merely recovered a 2.1% fall during June which was deeper than
estimated initially. The level of sales in July was down 62.9% from the
July 2005 peak. The latest level of sales fell short of expectations for
525,000.
· By region sales in the South repeated their June decline and fell 2.5% and they are down 17.6% since December. In the Midwest the pace of monthly declines accelerated to 8.2% and they are off 9.5% this year. In the West sales rose 9.9% but that monthly increase still left them off 9.6% so far this year. Though sales in the Northeast rose by more than one-third they remained down 10.7% since December.
· The
median price for a new single-family home rose very slightly for the
second consecutive month to $230,700 but prices still were off 6.3% y/y.
· The number of new homes for sale again fell sharply, by
5.2% (-22.8% y/y). That reduced the inventory of unsold homes to the
lowest level since late-2004. In each of the country's regions the
inventory is down just short of one-quarter during the last year.
· The month's supply of new homes for sale ticked lower m/m to 10.1 from an upwardly revised June level.
· If Exchange Rates Are Random Walks, Then Almost Everything We Say About Monetary Policy Is Wrong from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis can be found here.