Global| Apr 23 2015U.S. New Home Sales Unexpectedly Backpedal
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
New home sales during March declined to 481,000 (+19.4% y/y) from 543,000 during February, initially reported as 539,000. The latest figure missed expectations for 510,000 sales in the Action Economics Forecast Survey and was the [...]
New home sales during March declined to 481,000 (+19.4% y/y) from 543,000 during February, initially reported as 539,000. The latest figure missed expectations for 510,000 sales in the Action Economics Forecast Survey and was the lowest since November. These volume numbers are quoted at seasonally adjusted annual rates.
Home prices softened along with sales. The median price for a new home during March fell to $277,400 (-1.7% y/y) from $281,600, revised from $275,500. It was the lowest price level since last April. The average price of a new home fell to $343,300 (+3.6% y/y) from $345,500. It was the lowest average price in nine months.
Sales in the Northeast fell by one-third (-20.0% y/y) to 20,000 while sales in the South backpedaled 15.8% (+14.6% y/y) to 267,000. Home sales in the West declined 3.4% (+57.3% y/y) to 140,000 but sales in the Midwest rose 5.9% (-3.6% y/y) to 54,000.
The inventory of unsold homes recovered 1.9% to 213,000 (12.1% y/y). The months' sales supply of new homes rose m/m to 5.3 months, the highest level since November. The length of time to sell a new home jumped to 4.0 months, the longest time since June 2013, but still down from 14.0 months at the end of 2009.
The data in this report are available in Haver's USECON database. The consensus expectation figure from the Action Economics survey is available in the AS1REPNA database.
| U.S. New Home Sales | Mar | Feb | Jan | Y/Y % | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total SAAR, 000s | 481 | 543 | 514 | 19.4 | 439 | 430 | 368 |
| Northeast | 20 | 30 | 17 | -20.0 | 27 | 31 | 29 |
| Midwest | 54 | 51 | 61 | -3.6 | 58 | 61 | 47 |
| South | 267 | 317 | 290 | 14.6 | 245 | 233 | 195 |
| West | 140 | 145 | 146 | 57.3 | 109 | 106 | 97 |
| Median Price (NSA, $) | 277,400 | 281,600 | 292,300 | -1.7 | 283,233 | 265,092 | 242,108 |
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.
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