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Economy in Brief
U.S. PPI Posts Broad-Based Strength in March
The Producer Price Index for final demand jumped 1.0% (4.2% y/y) during March...
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...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
Monetary Policy Blunder: Not Managing Economic & Financial Outcomes Equally
Monetary Policy at a Crossroad: Policymakers Need to Break Promise of Easy Money to Avoid Boom-Bust
State Coincident Indexes in January
Data Surprises, Markets and COVID
by Tom Moeller February 26, 2020
Sales of new single-family homes increased 7.9% (18.6% y/y) during January to 764,000 units (SAAR), the highest level since July 2007. Sales increased from 708,000 in December, revised from 694,000. Figures for 2019 were revised. The Action Economics survey expected sales of 710,000.
The median price of a new home rose 7.4% (14.0% y/y) last month to a record $348,200. The average price of a new home also increased to a record of $402,300 (11.4% y/y). The home price figures are not seasonally adjusted.
Sales activity was mixed across the country in January. In the Midwest, sales rose 30.3% (47.8% y/y) to 99,000. Sales in the West rose 23.5% (49.1% y/y) to 252,000 units. Sales in the Northeast gained 4.8% (46.7% y/y) to 44,000. Working 4.4% lower to 369,000 (-2.4% y/y) were new home sales in the South.
The supply of homes on the market declined to 5.1 months in January from 5.5 in the prior two months. It was the lowest level since November 2017 and down from a high of 7.4 months at the end of 2018. The medium number of months that a new home was for sale rose to 3.3, up from 3.0 in December.
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) | Jan | Dec | Nov | Jan Y/Y % | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 764 | 708 | 692 | 18.6 | 682 | 615 | 617 |
Northeast | 44 | 42 | 34 | 46.7 | 31 | 32 | 40 |
Midwest | 99 | 76 | 70 | 47.8 | 71 | 75 | 72 |
South | 369 | 386 | 403 | -2.4 | 399 | 348 | 341 |
West | 252 | 204 | 185 | 49.1 | 182 | 160 | 164 |
Median Price (NSA, $) | 348,200 | 324,100 | 328,000 | 14.0 | 318,817 | 323,125 | 321,633 |