by Calculated Risk on 2/17/2016 07:36:00 PM

From the Sacramento Bee: CoreLogic: Sacramento County has best January in three years

CoreLogic said 4,845 new and existing houses and condominiums sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month, down 38.3 percent from 7,849 in December but up 7.1 percent from 4,523 in January 2015.
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CoreLogic analyst Andrew LePage noted that “January and February are sort of strange months that have not proven to be predictive. … Some people don’t like to buy or sell during the holidays or the middle of winter, so you’re left with a subset of the normal group of market participants. Investors tend to be more concentrated in the January/February closing/recording stats.

“Typically, the March and April data reflect a growing number of traditional buyers, and at that point we should get a stronger sense of where the housing market is headed.”

Thursday:
• At 8:30 AM ET, initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released. The consensus is for 275 thousand initial claims, up from 269 thousand the previous week.

• Also at 8:30 AM, the Philly Fed manufacturing survey for February. The consensus is for a reading of -2.5, up from -3.5.