US New Home Sales Slow In September, Prices Plunge To Lowest Since 2017

With mortgage applications plunging (on just a modest rise in mortgage rates) and a disappointing tumble in existing home sales, new home sales were expected to slow in September (after a huge bounce in August) and they did (but less than expected thanks to a downward revision).

August’s 7.1% MoM spike was revised lower to a 6.2% rise which left September’s 701k new home sales SAAR down 0.7% MoM.

Source: Bloomberg

The YoY rise in new home sales slowed…

The supply of homes at the current sales rate held at 5.5 months, unchanged from the prior period.

The number of new homes for sale decreased for a fourth month, to 321,000.

Very notably, the median home price plunged 8.8% from a year earlier to $299,400 – to its lowest since Feb 2017…

Purchases of new homes declined in three of four U.S. regions, led by the West and Northeast. The Midwest rose.

Let’s just hope rates don’t inch higher any further…

Source: Bloomberg