Global| Mar 23 2012U.S. New Home Sales Edge Lower Again But Prices Firm
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
New home sales slipped last month. Moreover, what's been a sideways trend in new home sales contrasts with the improvement in existing home sales demonstrated in Wednesday's report. Sales of new homes declined 1.6% during February to [...]
New home sales slipped last month. Moreover, what's been a sideways trend in new home sales contrasts with the improvement in existing home sales demonstrated in Wednesday's report. Sales of new homes declined 1.6% during February to 313,000 from a downwardly revised 318,000 in January. Earlier months' figures, however, were revised slightly higher. The latest sales missed Consensus expectations for 325,000 and they remained down by three-quarters versus the 2005 peak.
Sales performance continued to vary across the country. The total's decline was led by a 7.2% drop (-1.2% y/y) in the South followed by a 2.4% decline (+29.0% y/y) in the Midwest. These declines were countered by a 14.3% sales gain in the Northeast and an 8.0% rise (32.8% y/y) in the West.
The median price of a new single family home recovered 8.3% m/m to $233,700 (6.2% y/y), the highest level since June. The average price of a new home showed a lesser 2.2% m/m gain to $267,700 (1.9% y/y), its highest since July.
The length of time to sell a new home increased slightly m/m to a median 7.6 months, but remained below the 8.3 of last year, 11.4 months in 2010 and 12.0 months in 2009. The inventory of unsold homes held at the series low (-17.1% y/y) and, at 5.8 months, remained near the cycle-low. Low inventories of unsold homes are fairly common across the country.
The data in this report are available in Haver's USECON database. The expectation figure from Action Economics is available in the AS1REPNA database.
| U.S. New Home Sales | Feb | Jan | Dec | Y/Y % | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total (SAAR, 000s) | 313 | 318 | 336 | 11.4 | 313 | 321 | 374 |
| Northeast | 24 | 21 | 19 | 26.3 | 21 | 31 | 31 |
| Midwest | 40 | 41 | 57 | 29.0 | 45 | 45 | 54 |
| South | 168 | 181 | 174 | -1.2 | 169 | 173 | 202 |
| West | 81 | 75 | 86 | -32.8 | 72 | 74 | 87 |
| Median Price (NSA, $) | 233,700 | 215,700 | 218,500 | 6.2 | 224,308 | 221,242 | 214,500 |
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
