Sales Strength

January is normally a weak month for home sales. But not this January. Thus, the seasonal adjustments that are always made to allow for month-to-month comparisons are not valid. For example, had last month’s sales occurred in October, the season adjustment would have resulted in 4.3 million seasonally adjusted sales, not the 6.69 million reported. The delayed selling season is in large part why the headline number looks so good.