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Economy in Brief
U.S. Housing Affordability Declines Further in June
The NAR Fixed Rate Mortgage Housing Affordability Index fell 3.6% in June...
EMU Output Makes Solid Gain in June
The European Monetary Union posted a 0.7% increase for industrial output in June...
U.S. Producer Prices Fall During July; Core Increase Weakens
The Producer Price Index for Final Demand fell 0.5% during July...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Continue on an Uptrend
Initial claims for unemployment insurance filed in the week ended August 6 rose 14,000 to 262,000...
RICS Survey Points to More U.K. Housing Sector Weakness
The survey of housing market conditions in the U.K. continues to show strength in prices versus weakness...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller February 25, 2005
Sales of existing single family homes fell for the second month and earlier sales estimates were revised down. January sales of 5.94M fell 0.5% from December which fell 2.8% from November. Consensus expectations had been for December sales of 6.75M.
Improved methodology and better modeling led to monthly revisions back through 1999. The figures reflect closings of home sales in earlier months.
Sales were mixed m/m across the country's regions. In the Northeast sales fell 3.7% (+6.8% y/y) and in the Midwest sales fell 5.8% (+9.2% y/y). In the South sales rose 3.0% (+13.3% y/y) and in the West sales ticked 0.7% higher (+17.7% y/y).
The median price of an existing home single family home fell m/m to $186,900 (+9.8% y/y).
The latest release from the National Association of Realtors is available here.
| Existing Home Sales (000, AR) | Jan | Dec | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Existing Single-Family | 5,940 | 5,970 | 12.5% | 5,913 | 5,441 | 4,995 |
