Recent Updates
- Singapore: International Trade Press (Apr)
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Economy in Brief
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...
EMU IP Drops Month-to-Month and Year-over-Year
Industrial output among EMU members fell by 1.8% month-to-month in March...
U.S. Producer Price Inflation Moderates in April
The Producer Price Index for Final Demand increased 0.5% during April...
U.S. Housing Affordability Plunges in March
Affordable homes are in short supply...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
The Many Links of Inflation Cycle: Hard Landing Is Needed to Crack Them
Peak Inflation & 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?
"Core" GDP Suggests Economy Gained Momentum in Q1:2022
by Sandy Batten March 23, 2022
• Downward revision to January more than offset by upward revision to December.
• Markets had expected an increase.
• Sales rose in Northeast and Midwest but fell in South and West.
New single-family home sales fell 2.0% m/m (-6.2% y/y) to 772,000 units at an annual rate in February from a downwardly revised 788,000 in January (initially 801,000). The downward January revision was more than offset by a 21,000 upward revision to December. The most recent peak in sales was 993,000 in January 2021. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected sales of 813,000 sales in February. Supply continues to revive as the number of new homes for sale rose to 407,000 in February, the highest reading and the first above 400,000 since August 2008.
By region, sales in February fell in two major regions and rose in the other two. Sales jumped 59.3% m/m in the Northeast in February to 43,000 at an annual rate following a 20.1% m/m drop in January. Sales rose 6.3% m/m to 84,000 in the Midwest after an 8.1% m/m decline in January. By contrast, sales in the South edged down 1.7% to 451,000 in February on top of a 5.4% m/m drop in January while sales in the West decreased 13.0% m/m to 194,000 after a 12.6% monthly decline in January.
The median price of a new home declined 6.3% m/m (+10.7% y/y) in February to $400,600 following a 7.1% m/m increase in January. The average sales price of a new home rose 3.4% m/m (+25.4% y/y) in February to a record high $511,000. These sales price data are not seasonally adjusted.
The seasonally adjusted supply of new homes for sale rose to 6.3 months in February from 6.1 in January. The record low was 3.5 months reached in August, September and October of 2020. The median number of months a new home stayed on the market fell to 2.5 months in February, tying the record low reached in October, from 2.9 months in January. These figures date back to January 1975.
New home sales activity and prices 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) | Feb | Jan | Dec | Y/Y % | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 772 | 788 | 860 | -6.2 | 770 | 822 | 683 |
Northeast | 43 | 27 | 34 | 7.5 | 36 | 37 | 30 |
Midwest | 84 | 79 | 86 | -19.2 | 86 | 93 | 72 |
South | 451 | 459 | 485 | -3.0 | 452 | 474 | 399 |
West | 194 | 223 | 255 | -9.3 | 196 | 218 | 182 |
Median Price (NSA, $) | 400,600 | 427,400 | 399,100 | 10.7 | 398,800 | 336,900 | 321,500 |