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Economy in Brief
U.S. Index of Leading Indicators Fell Again in July
The Conference Board's Composite Leading Economic Indicators Index fell 0.4% m/m...
U.S. Philly Fed General Activity Index Back to Positive Reading in August
The current general activity diffusion index rose nearly 19 points in August to 6.2...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Slightly Lower
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 26, 2005
New single-family home sales set a new record in March with a 12.2% m/m jump to 1.431M following the upwardly revised 8.2% increase in February. Consensus estimates had been for sales of 1.190M.
Last month's sales gain was led by a 21.9% jump in the Midwest (13.6% y/y) and a 13.8% (18.6% y/y) rise in the South. Sales in the West also rose 9.9% (5.0% y/y) but in the Northeast sales fell 8.9% (+1.2% y/y) after a jump one third higher in February.
The median price of a new single family home gave back all of the prior month's gain and fell 9.3% to $212,300 (+1.3% y/y).
The figures from the Census Department reflect homes sold.
The cost of business cycles and the benefits of stabilization from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago is available here.
Homes Sales (000s, AR) | Mar | Feb | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New Single-Family | 1,431 | 1,275 | 12.7% | 1,200 | 1,089 | 976 |