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Economy in Brief
U.S. Index of Leading Indicators Fell Again in July
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Initial claims for unemployment insurance went down 2,000 in the week ended August 13 to 250,000...
Inflation Rages in EMU and Hovers Globally
Inflation in the European Monetary Union in July finalizes at 8.8% year-over-year...
U.S. Retail Sales Hold Steady in July; Nonauto Sales Rise
Total retail sales remained unchanged during July (10.3% y/y)...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller April 25, 2005
Sales of existing homes rose 1.0% in March to 6.890M versus Consensus expectations for sales of 6.78M.
Improved methodology, better modeling and the addition of condo & co-op sales affected the figures back to 1999. The data reflect closings of home sales in earlier months.
Single-family home sales increased 1.2% in March but remained 1-2% off last year's highs.
Single family home sales rose m/m across the country's regions. In the Northeast sales improved 1.2% (3.7% y/y) and in the Midwest sales rose 1.5% (2.2% y/y). Sales in the South increased 0.9% (5.4% y/y) and in the West sales rose 1.4% (5.7% y/y).
The median price of an existing single family home rose sharply m/m to $193,600 (+11.3% y/y).
The latest release from the National Association of Realtors is available here.
Existing Home Sales (000, AR) | Mar | Feb | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total Home Sales | 6,890 | 6,820 | 4.9% | 6,723 | 6,170 | 5,653 |
Single Family Home Sales | 6,040 | 5,970 | 4.5% | 5,913 | 5,441 | 4,995 |