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Sunday, July 13, 2014

Existing Home Sales: Lawler vs. the Consensus

by Calculated Risk on 7/13/2014 06:25:00 PM

The NAR will report June Existing Home Sales on Tuesday, July 22nd. The consensus isn't available yet, but eonomist Tom Lawler estimates the NAR will report sales of 4.96 million on a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) basis up from 4.89 million SAAR in May.

Housing economist Tom Lawler has been sending me his predictions of what the NAR will report for 4 years.  The table below shows the consensus for each month, Lawler's predictions, and the NAR's initial reported level of sales. 

Lawler hasn't always been closer than the consensus, but usually when there has been a fairly large spread between Lawler's estimate and the "consensus", Lawler has been closer.

Over the last four years, the consensus average miss was 150 thousand with a standard deviation of 170 thousand.  Lawler's average miss was 70 thousand with a standard deviation of 50 thousand.

Note: Many analysts now change their "forecast" after Lawler's estimate is posted, so the consensus has been doing a little better recently!

Existing Home Sales, Forecasts and NAR Report
millions, seasonally adjusted annual rate basis (SAAR)
MonthConsensusLawlerNAR reported1
May-106.205.835.66
Jun-105.305.305.37
Jul-104.663.953.83
Aug-104.104.104.13
Sep-104.304.504.53
Oct-104.504.464.43
Nov-104.854.614.68
Dec-104.905.135.28
Jan-115.205.175.36
Feb-115.155.004.88
Mar-115.005.085.10
Apr-115.20NA5.05
May-114.754.804.81
Jun-114.904.714.77
Jul-114.924.694.67
Aug-114.754.925.03
Sep-114.934.834.91
Oct-114.804.864.97
Nov-115.084.404.42
Dec-114.604.644.61
Jan-124.694.664.57
Feb-124.614.634.59
Mar-124.624.594.48
Apr-124.664.534.62
May-124.574.664.55
Jun-124.654.564.37
Jul-124.504.474.47
Aug-124.554.874.82
Sep-124.754.704.75
Oct-124.744.844.79
Nov-124.905.105.04
Dec-125.104.974.94
Jan-134.904.944.92
Feb-135.014.874.98
Mar-135.034.894.92
Apr-134.925.034.97
May-135.005.205.18
Jun-135.274.995.08
Jul-135.135.335.39
Aug-135.255.355.48
Sep-135.305.265.29
Oct-135.135.085.12
Nov-135.024.984.90
Dec-134.904.964.87
Jan-144.704.674.62
Feb-144.644.604.60
Mar-144.564.644.59
Apr-144.674.704.65
May-144.754.814.89
Jun-14---4.96---
1NAR initially reported before revisions.