Consumer confidence continued to fall in July to the lowest level since February 2021 amid inflation angst and an economic slowdown, the Conference Board reported on Tuesday. The top-line number fell to 95.7 from 98.4 in June, driven by broad declines across all components. But there was good news: ... READ MORE >
new home sales
New home sales rise unexpectedly despite higher mortgage rates
New home sales rose unexpectedly in May despite rising mortgage rates and an otherwise cooling housing market. The increase was driven by more supply coming online, pushing prices down for the first time since February. Sales increased by 10.7% on the month to 696,000 new homes annualized, after ... READ MORE >
New home sales fell 16.6% in April to lowest level since pandemic began
New home sales plummeted in April to their lowest since the onset of the pandemic amid a steep rise in mortgage rates and elevated prices. We expect sales to drop further in the coming months as a result of two potential 50-basis-point interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve in June and ... READ MORE >
Consumer confidence declines slightly as new home sales fall 8.6%
Consumer confidence eased in April even as expectations for the next few months improved, the Conference Board reported on Tuesday. The consumer confidence index was down slightly in April, to 107.3 from 107.6 in March, remaining below the pre-pandemic level. The index, well known for its ... READ MORE >
Chart of the day: New home sales drop amid rising rates
New home sales posted the second consecutive month of decline in February as elevated prices and rising mortgage rates deterred buyers. Sales fell by 2% to 772,000 on an annualized rate, following a sharp 8.4% decrease in January, according to government data released on Wednesday. The decline, ... READ MORE >
U.S. new home sales declined in January
New home sales dropped 4.5% in January as high prices and increasing mortgage rates slowed demand, according to data from the Census Bureau on Thursday. The omicron variant and colder-than-usual weather in January also contributed to the decline. As a result, inventory levels increased to 6.1 months of ... READ MORE >
Chart of the day: New home sales rise above 11% for second straight month
Sales of new single-family homes in December beat the market's median estimate by a wide margin, rising by 11.9% to 811,000 on an annual basis, according to data released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday. Although November's reading for the month-over-month change was revised down to 1.7%, that ... READ MORE >
New home sales highest since March
New home sales increased by 14% in September to 800,000, the highest since March, indicating that strong demand for new houses continued to drive the market, according to Commerce Department data released on Tuesday. This was the biggest one-month percentage increase since July 2020, as the change in ... READ MORE >
CHART OF THE DAY: New home sales jump 20.7% in March
New home sales in the United States bounced back with a 20.7% increase in March after a surprising 18.2% decline in February, according to Commerce Department data released Friday. The robust gain, which came as sales surpassed 1 million for the second time this year, shows that February’s decline was ... READ MORE >
CHART OF THE DAY: New home sales drop 18.2% in February as market cools
The housing market continued to cool off from the torrid pace of last year as bad weather and rising costs took a toll in February. New home sales fell 18.2% last month, compared to January, to a seasonally adjusted 775,000 -- a nine-month low. At the same time, median home prices eased 1% to $349,400 ... READ MORE >