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Economy in Brief
U.S. Mortgage Applications Decline as Interest Rates Continue to Increase
The MBA Mortgage Loan Applications Index declined 11.4%...
French Sectors Show Minor Recovery from Pre-Covid19 Levels
French industry climate improved in February...
U.S. Consumer Confidence Increases in February
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index increased 2.7% (-31.1% y/y) to 91.3 during February...
U.S. FHFA House Price Index Continues to Rise Markedly
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index increased 1.1% m/m in December...
U.S. Energy Prices Surge as Texas Freeze Limits Supply
The price of regular gasoline strengthened to $2.63 per gallon (6.8% y/y) in the week ended February 22...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller March 24, 2005
Sales of new single-family homes recovered 9.4% in February to 1.226M after the little revised 8.6% January decline. Consensus estimates had been for sales of 1.150M.
The rise in sales last month was led by a 9.9% recovery in the Midwest (-6.8% y/y) after the one-third drop in January. In the Northeast sales surged 20.3% (-3.5% y/y) and in the South sales jumped 9.0% (+15.5% y/y). In the West sales gained 7.4% (-1.7% y/y).
The median price of a new single family home jumped 9.6% to $230,700 (+5.1% y/y).
The figures from the Census Department reflect homes sold.
| Homes Sales (000s, AR) | Feb | Jan | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Single-Family | 1,226 | 1,121 | 5.2% | 1,198 | 1,089 | 976 |
