August new home sales beat expectations, according to figures released jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The July revision also changes the picture: the 6.4% August gain is measured from 643,000, rather than the 607,000 initially reported for July.
August details compared with July:
Inventory was unchanged, while the faster sales pace reduced months’ supply. The median price was little changed, but the average price fell 9.1%. That difference suggests the mix of homes sold matters when reading the price figures; it does not, by itself, show that the price of a comparable home fell that much.
Quick analysis: Buyers had more activity in August than economists expected, a sign of resilience in a housing market facing high borrowing costs. That could normally lend support to Treasury yields and the dollar, though this report alone is unlikely to settle the Fed’s policy outlook. The Census Bureau’s reported 6.4% monthly change carries a ±19.5 percentage point margin of error, so traders should be careful about treating one month’s gain as a firm new trend. the 30 year mortage is around 7% currently which is below the the 2023 spike high at 7.83% but close to the high yield from January 2025 t 7.04%.
What this report measures: New home sales estimate sales of newly built single-family houses. The sales rate is seasonally adjusted and annualized: it shows what a full year’s sales would look like if that month’s pace continued. Traders follow it for evidence of housing demand and the effect of borrowing costs; early estimates can be revised.
This article was written by Greg Michalowski at investinglive.com.
Source: Investing Live - News
