Jan. New Home Sales Rise 3.7% to 555,000 Annual Rate

WASHINGTON – The pace of new single-family home sales partially rebounded to a softer-than-expected 555,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate in January following downward revisions to the November and December sales pace, data released by the Commerce Department Friday showed.

The sales pace was expected to rebound to 573,000, based on an MNI survey of economists.

Sales rose 15.8% in the Northeast, 14.8% in the Midwest, and 4.3% in the South. However, a 4.4% decline in the West region provided some offset.

New home sales in December were revised down very slightly to a 535,000 rate from the 536,000 rate previously reported, while November sales were revised down to a 575,000 rate from the 598,000 pace previously reported. October sales were revised down to 568,000 from the previously reported 571,000 pace. Taken together, the 4Q average sales pace is now 559,000, compared with a 568,000 average before Friday's revisions.

The supply of new homes for sale rose by 3.5% to 265,000 in January, the strongest pace since July 2009. Given recent strength in housing starts, the supply is likely to rise further in the coming months. Given the comparable gains in sales and supply in January, the months supply held steady at 5.7 months, up from 5.5 months a year ago.

The median sales price of new homes fell by 1.0% to $312,900 in January, but was up a solid 7.5% from January 2016.

Market News International is a real-time global news service for fixed-income and foreign exchange market professionals. See www.marketnews.com.

Market News International is a real-time global news service for fixed-income and foreign exchange market professionals. See www.marketnews.com.
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