Recent Updates
- US: Wholesale Trade (Feb), Producer Prices (Mar)
- US: Producer Price Indexes by Commodity Detail (Mar)
- US: Producer Price Indexes by Industry Detail (Mar)
- Canada: Investment in Building Construction (Feb), Labor Force Survey (Mar)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Wholesale Inventories Post Strong February Gain; Sales Fall
Wholesale inventories increased 0.6% (2.0% y/y) during February...
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Unexpectedly Increase
Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 744,000 during the week ended April 3...
Total PMIs Gain Traction in March
The PMI readings for March show improvement again...
U.S. Consumer Credit Outstanding Bounces Back in February
Consumer credit outstanding surged $27.6 billion during February...
U.S. Trade Deficit Widens to Record during February
The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened to $71.1 during February...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller April 24, 2018
Sales of new single-family homes during March increased 4.0% (8.8% y/y) to 694,000 (SAAR) following a 3.6% February gain to 667,000, revised from 618,000. Expectations had been for 620,000 sales in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Despite the recently strong increases, sales remained slightly below the expansion peak of 711,000 reached in November.
The median price of a new home improved 3.5% (4.8% y/y) to $337,200 from $325,800, revised from $326,800. It was the highest price in three months. The average price of a new home eased 0.2% (-3.8% y/y) to $369,900.
Changes in new home sales were mixed last month across the country. In the Northeast, sales declined by more than one-half m/m (-52.5% y/y) to 19,000 reflecting adverse weather conditions. Sales in the Midwest declined 2.4% both m/m and y/y to 82,000 after a 1.2% m/m rise. Offsetting these declines, sales in the West jumped 28.3% (24.7% y/y) to 222,000, a roughly twelve year-high. Sales in the South inched 0.8% higher (10.4% y/y) following an 11.9% decline.
The months' supply of homes on the market declined m/m to 5.2 and has been moving irregularly sideways since 2012. The median number of months a new home was on the market remained low at 3.8, up slightly during the last nine months.
The data in this report are available in Haver's USECON database. The consensus expectation figure from Action Economics is available in the AS1REPNA database.
U.S. New Single-Family Home Sales (SAAR, 000s) | Mar | Feb | Jan | Mar Y/Y % | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 694 | 667 | 644 | 8.8 | 617 | 561 | 503 |
Northeast | 19 | 42 | 35 | -52.5 | 39 | 32 | 25 |
Midwest | 82 | 84 | 83 | -2.4 | 72 | 69 | 61 |
South | 371 | 368 | 329 | 10.4 | 341 | 317 | 286 |
West | 222 | 173 | 197 | 24.7 | 165 | 142 | 130 |
Median Price (NSA, $) | 337,200 | 325,800 | 325,900 | 4.8 | 321,367 | 306,500 | 293,733 |