While many fret that existing housing sales have recently been slumping, the angst is misplaced. Since early last year sales have declined 7%, but distressed sales as a percentage of all sales have fallen from 25% of sales to just 15%, a drop of 10 percentage points, more than the 7% drop in sales. Thus, the total volume of non-distressed sales is higher than it was a year ago. Relax.
Tag Archives: Home Sales
Week of June 24th
Despite a huge downward revision of Q1 GDP growth from 2.4% to 1.8%, data for Q2 look decent. Durable goods orders look OK, home sales are good and despite sequestration and the payroll tax increase, consumer spending is holding up surprisingly well and savings rates actually edged up to 3.2% in May from 2.8% in April. Given the continued economic headwinds, however, Q2 GDP will be no better than 1.5%.
Good News
New home sales spiked 17.5% MoM in Dec, eclipsing the 3.5% median expectation. But, there’s always a but, the gain was led by a 70% jump in new home sales in the West. Every other region was flat. So all it took was a pop from 4,000 sales to (hold your breath) 7,000 sales in Dec in the West to generate a seasonally adjusted 17.5% annualized surge in new housing activity. Don’t uncork the champagne yet!