Recent Updates
- Macao: Visitor Arrivals (Apr)
- Turkey: Domestic Debt by Holder (APR)
- UK Regional: Northern Ireland: Mortgage Possession (Q1)
- UK Regional: GfK Consumer Confidence Barometer by Region (May)
- North Macedonia: Broad Money, Other Depository Corporations'
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
UK Consumer Sentiment Hits Lowest Reading since 1996
(when the GFK survey began; also lowest reading 'ever')
Of these 13 readings eight of them declined on the month in May three of them improved and two of them were unchanged...
U.S. Existing Home Sales Continue to Fall in April as Houses Become Less Affordable
The combination of soaring home prices across the nation and rising interest rates is making homes less affordable...
U.S. Index of Leading Indicators Fell in April
Five of the index's components fell in April, one was unchanged and four increased...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Rose in the Latest Week
The state insured rates of unemployment in regular programs vary widely...
CBI Gauge in the UK Continues to Be Upbeat
The global economy has a lot of challenges...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
Profits and Margins Plunge In Q1: Expect More Margin Contraction As Fed Squeezes Inflation
The Many Links of Inflation Cycle: Hard Landing Is Needed to Crack Them
Peak Inflation and 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?
by Tom Moeller March 23, 2012
New home sales slipped last month. Moreover, what's been a sideways trend in new home sales contrasts with the improvement in existing home sales demonstrated in Wednesday's report. Sales of new homes declined 1.6% during February to 313,000 from a downwardly revised 318,000 in January. Earlier months' figures, however, were revised slightly higher. The latest sales missed Consensus expectations for 325,000 and they remained down by three-quarters versus the 2005 peak.
Sales performance continued to vary across the country. The total's decline was led by a 7.2% drop (-1.2% y/y) in the South followed by a 2.4% decline (+29.0% y/y) in the Midwest. These declines were countered by a 14.3% sales gain in the Northeast and an 8.0% rise (32.8% y/y) in the West.
The median price of a new single family home recovered 8.3% m/m to $233,700 (6.2% y/y), the highest level since June. The average price of a new home showed a lesser 2.2% m/m gain to $267,700 (1.9% y/y), its highest since July.
The length of time to sell a new home increased slightly m/m to a median 7.6 months, but remained below the 8.3 of last year, 11.4 months in 2010 and 12.0 months in 2009. The inventory of unsold homes held at the series low (-17.1% y/y) and, at 5.8 months, remained near the cycle-low. Low inventories of unsold homes are fairly common across the country.
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 | Feb | Jan | Dec | Y/Y % | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total (SAAR, 000s) | 313 | 318 | 336 | 11.4 | 313 | 321 | 374 |
Northeast | 24 | 21 | 19 | 26.3 | 21 | 31 | 31 |
Midwest | 40 | 41 | 57 | 29.0 | 45 | 45 | 54 |
South | 168 | 181 | 174 | -1.2 | 169 | 173 | 202 |
West | 81 | 75 | 86 | -32.8 | 72 | 74 | 87 |
Median Price (NSA, $) | 233,700 | 215,700 | 218,500 | 6.2 | 224,308 | 221,242 | 214,500 |