Sales of new homes at four-month high in March

WASHINGTON — New single-family home sales pace saw a significant rise in the month, increasing by 4.0% to 694,000, a deceptively strong number considering the large upward revisions to February and January, data released by the Commerce Department Tuesday showed.

New home sales pace came in a lot stronger than the 630,000 expected, based on an MNI survey of economists. This surprise should bolster the notion of continued growth in the economy.

new home sales

The supply of new homes for sale was flat in the month, remaining at 301,000 in March.

Based on the movements in sales and supply in March, the months' supply fell by 3.7% to 5.2 months, down slightly from February's steep revision down to 5.4 months (from 5.9 months reported previously). Despite the decline, this is still higher than the 5.0 months supply a year ago.

Due to the supply of new homes remaining at 301,000 and the sales pace rising significantly, the median sales price rose 3.5% to $337,200. This is well above the $321,700 in March 2017 and the entire average for 2017 of $323,100. The average sales price saw a miniscule decline of 0.2% to $369,900.

When broken down regionally, sales were largely varied. The small Northeast region saw a sharp 54.8% decline, while the larger West region rose 28.3% in the month. The large South region only mildly increased by 0.8% and the Midwest declined by 2.4%.

New homes sales in February saw a sharp upward revision to a 667,000 rate from the 618,000 rate previously reported. January sales also saw a significant upward revision to a 644,000 rate from the 622,000 pace previously reported. December, however, saw a downward revision to 644k from the 653k seen previously.

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