After disappointing pending home sales, February new home sales beat expectations, rising 4.9% MoM after a massively upwardly revised January jump of +8.2% (revised from -6.9% MoM).
The 667k SAAR is the highest since March 2018…
While tumbling mortgage rates helped, we also note that the median sales price fell 3.6% from a year earlier to $315,300.
Purchases of new homes rose in three of four U.S. regions, led by a gain in the Midwest, while transactions in the South, the largest region, climbed to the highest level since 2007. Sales in the West were unchanged.
The supply of homes at the current sales rate decreased to 6.1 months, the lowest since June, from 6.5 months in January.
New-home purchases are seen as a timelier barometer of housing than those of previously owned properties, as they’re calculated when contracts are signed rather than when they close.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2TKGszL Tyler Durden