by Calculated Risk on 3/20/2014 10:00:00 AM
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Existing Home Sales in February: 4.60 million SAAR, Inventory up 5.3% Year-over-year
The NAR reports: February Existing-Home Sales Remain Subdued
Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, declined 0.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.60 million in February from 4.62 million in January, and 7.1 percent below the 4.95 million-unit level in February 2013. February’s pace of sales was the lowest since July 2012, when it stood at 4.59 million.
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Total housing inventory at the end of February rose 6.4 percent to 2.00 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 5.2-month supply at the current sales pace, up from 4.9 months in January. Unsold inventory is 5.3 percent above a year ago, when there was a 4.6-month supply.

This graph shows existing home sales, on a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) basis since 1993.
Sales in February (4.60 million SAAR) were slightly lower than last month, and were 7.1% below the February 2013 rate.
The second graph shows nationwide inventory for existing homes.

The third graph shows the year-over-year (YoY) change in reported existing home inventory and months-of-supply. Since inventory is not seasonally adjusted, it really helps to look at the YoY change. Note: Months-of-supply is based on the seasonally adjusted sales and not seasonally adjusted inventory.

Months of supply was at 5.2 months in February.
This was slightly below expectations of sales of 4.64 million. For existing home sales, the key number is inventory - and the key story is inventory is still low, but up year-over-year. I'll have more later ...