Recent Updates
- Flash PMIs: Australia (Apr)
- US: Existing Home Sales (Mar)
- US: FRB Chicago National Activity Index (Mar), Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Survey (Apr)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Leading Indicators Rebounded in March
The Conference Board's Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators rebounded in March, rising 1.3% m/m (+7.9% y/y)...
Chicago Fed National Activity Index Increases in March
The Chicago Fed's National Activity Index increased to 1.71 during March...
Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Activity Strengthens in April
The Kansas City Fed reported that its manufacturing sector business activity index rose to a record 31 in April...
U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Fall Again to a New Pandemic-Period Low
Initial claims for unemployment insurance decreased again in the week ending April 17, reaching 547,000...
U.K. CBI Optimism Speaks Volumes
The U.K. CBI survey saw its order component backtrack in April...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller March 24, 2020
Sales of new single-family homes declined 4.4% (+14.3% y/y) during February to 765,000 (AR) from 800,000 in January, revised from 764,000. The Action Economics survey expected sales of 754,000.
The median price of a new home rose 6.3% (7.8% y/y) last month to a record $345,900. The average price of a new home also increased to a record of $403,800 (5.3% y/y). The home price figures are not seasonally adjusted.
Sales activity was mixed across the country in February. Sales in the West declined 17.2% (+24.7% y/y) to 222,000 units. In the Midwest, sales fell 7.3% (+15.6% y/y) to 89,000. Working the other way, sales in the Northeast jumped 38.9% (47.1% y/y) to 50,000 while sales in the South edged 1.0% higher (6.3% y/y) to 404,000.
The supply of homes on the market rose to 5.0 months in February, but the January figure was revised down to 4.8 months. These figures were below the high of 7.4 months at the end of 2018. The medium number of months that a new home was for sale held steady at 3.3, down from 14 months at the beginning of the economic expansion.
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.
Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement (here).
U.S. New Single-Family Home Sales (SAAR, 000s) | Feb | Jan | Dec | Feb Y/Y % | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 765 | 800 | 724 | 14.3 | 682 | 615 | 617 |
Northeast | 50 | 36 | 39 | 47.1 | 31 | 32 | 40 |
Midwest | 89 | 96 | 84 | 15.6 | 71 | 75 | 72 |
South | 404 | 400 | 393 | 6.3 | 399 | 348 | 341 |
West | 222 | 268 | 208 | 24.7 | 182 | 160 | 164 |
Median Price (NSA, $) | 345,900 | 325,300 | 327,700 | 7.8 | 318,817 | 323,125 | 321,633 |