Recent Updates
- Hong Kong: Movements of Aircraft, Passenger and Freight (Apr)
- US: Mfg & Trade Inventories & Sales (Mar), IP & Capacity Util, Adv Retail Sales (Apr)
- US: NAHB\Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (Mar)
- US: Industrial Production Detail (Apr)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Retail Sales Posted Solid Rise in April
Notwithstanding falling real incomes and declining confidence measures, consumer spending posted a solid increase...
U.S. Home Builder Index Took a Steep Drop in May
This is the fifth straight month that builder sentiment has declined...
U.S. Empire State Manufacturing Index Declines in May
The Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions dropped thirty-six points...
Surging Imports Send the EMU Trade Scene Deeper into Deficit
The trade balance for the Euro Area fell sharply to 17.5 billion euros in March...
U.S. Import Prices Hold Steady While Export Prices Rise in April
Import prices held steady m/m (+12.0% y/y) in April...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
The Many Links of Inflation Cycle: Hard Landing Is Needed to Crack Them
Peak Inflation & Fed Policy: A Relationship Which Should Worry The Fed And Scare Investors
Why Have the Yields on TIPS Been Negative in the Past Two Years?
"Core" GDP Suggests Economy Gained Momentum in Q1:2022
by Tom Moeller February 24, 2012
Sales were bolstered by extremely warm temperatures, but total new home sales slipped 0.9% last month to 321,000 following four months of sizable gain. The figures for 2H'11 were revised up. Sales beat Consensus expectations for 315,000 but they remained down by three-quarters versus the 2005 peak. The median price of a new single family home improved slightly m/m to $217,100 (-9.6% y/y). The average home price fell 1.2% m/m to $261,600 (-5.1% y/y).
Sales performance continued to vary across the country. Sales in the West fell 10.6% but were up 5.6% y/y while in the Midwest sales dropped by one-half versus December and were down 11.9% y/y. Working the other way was an 11.1% rise (-39.4% y/y) in sales in the Northeast and a 9.3% rise (15.3% y/y) in the South.
The inventory of unsold homes reached another series low (-18.8% y/y) and at 5.6 months of sales was near the cycle-low. Low inventories of unsold homes are fairly common across the country. The length of time to sell a new home ticked up m/m to a median 7.1 months versus 11.4 months in 2010.
The data in this report are available in Haver's USECON database. The expectation figure from Action Economics is available in the AS1REPNA database.
U.S. New Home Sales | Jan | Dec | Nov | Y/Y % | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total (SAAR, 000s) | 321 | 324 | 318 | 3.5 | 305 | 321 | 374 |
Northeast | 20 | 18 | 16 | -39.4 | 21 | 31 | 31 |
Midwest | 37 | 49 | 51 | -11.9 | 44 | 45 | 54 |
South | 188 | 172 | 182 | 15.3 | 168 | 173 | 202 |
West | 76 | 85 | 69 | 5.6 | 70 | 74 | 87 |
Median Price (NSA, $) | 217,100 | 216,500 | 213,100 | -9.6 | 224,042 | 221,242 | 214,500 |