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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.
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"Core" GDP Suggests Economy Gained Momentum in Q1:2022
by Tom Moeller September 19, 2012 Home buying is gaining momentum. The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes rose 7.8% last month to a 4.820M annual rate. That followed an unrevised 2.3% July rise. It raised sales to the highest level since May 2010 when the first-time home buyers tax credit was ending. Expectations were for 4.55M sales. Sales of existing single-family homes alone rose 8.0% to 4.300M, up 10.0% y/y. (These data have a longer history than the total sales series). Sales of condos and co-ops rose 6.1% m/m to 0.520M, up 4.0% y/y.
The median price of an existing home slipped 0.2% (+9.5% y/y) to $187,400. In the Northeast, the median sales price of $245,200 was up 0.6% y/y. In the West, the median price rose 16.3% y/y to $242,000. In the South, the price of $160,100 was up 6.5% y/y and in the Midwest the price rose 7.8% y/y to $152,400.
The supply of homes on the market fell to a seven month low of 6.4 months. The months' supply of single-family homes on the market slipped to 6.2 but for condos & coops it fell sharply m/m to 6.0. The total number of homes on the market rose 2.9% m/m but was down 18.2% y/y. Inventories of single-family homes fell 16.3% y/y while inventories of multi-family homes fell by roughly one-third.
Reported earlier this month, the composite index of home price affordability ticked up slightly m/m but remained 12.5% off the February high. Mortgage payments as a percent of income slipped m/m to 13.7% versus the high of roughly 25% in 2006. The average monthly mortgage rate fell to 3.78%.
The data on existing home sales, prices and affordability can be found in Haver's USECON database. The regional price, affordability and inventory data are available in the REALTOR database. The expectations figure is in the AS1REPNA database.
Existing Home Sales (Thous, SAAR) | Aug | Jul | Jun | Y/Y% | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 4,820 | 4,470 | 4,370 | 9.3 | 4,283 | 4,181 | 4,329 |
Northeast | 630 | 580 | 540 | 8.6 | 544 | 563 | 580 |
Midwest | 1,120 | 1,040 | 1,020 | 17.9 | 920 | 908 | 975 |
South | 1,900 | 1,770 | 1,730 | 11.1 | 1,685 | 1,626 | 1,640 |
West | 1,170 | 1,080 | 1,080 | 0.0 | 1,133 | 1,083 | 1,134 |
Single-Family Sales | 4,300 | 3,980 | 3,900 | 10.0 | 3,797 | 3,704 | 3,868 |
Median Price, Total, ($, NSA) | 187,400 | 187,800 | 188,800 | 9.5 | 164,542 | 172,442 | 172,783 |