by Calculated Risk on 3/21/2016 10:11:00 AM
Monday, March 21, 2016
Existing Home Sales decreased in February to 5.08 million SAAR
From the NAR: Existing-Home Sales Fizzle in February
Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, dropped 7.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.08 million in February from 5.47 million in January. Despite last month's large decline, sales are still 2.2 percent higher than a year ago. ...
Total housing inventory at the end of February increased 3.3 percent to 1.88 million existing homes available for sale, but is still 1.1 percent lower than a year ago (1.90 million). Unsold inventory is at a 4.4-month supply at the current sales pace, up from 4.0 months in January.
This graph shows existing home sales, on a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) basis since 1993.
Sales in February (5.08 million SAAR) were 7.1% lower than last month, and were 2.2% above the February 2015 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 4.4 months in February.
This was well below consensus expectations of sales of 5.34 million. For existing home sales, a key number is inventory - and inventory is still low. I'll have more later ...