US homes sales big decline reviewed – Nomura

By FXStreet Analysts at Nomura offered a review of the recent US data.

Key Quotes:

New home sales declined by 9.2% to an annualized 494k SAAR in January, close to our expectations and somewhat below the Consensus (Nomura: 505k, Consensus: 520k).

The sizable decline occurred primarily in the West, where new home sales were down by 52k to 110k – returning near their trend after posting outsized gains in both November and December. Elsewhere, sales fell slightly by 4k in the Midwest, and were up by 1k in the Northeast and by 5k in the South. Besides the payback in the West, the performance of new home sales appears to be quite steady.

The median sales price declined for the second consecutive month on a y-o-y basis, a good sign that builders may be making more affordable housing units which would enable more first-time home buyers to enter the market.

In contrast, we continued to see further acceleration in prices for existing homes in January (released yesterday) as the supply of existing homes remains low. Homebuilders will need to ramp up construction, especially at the lower end of the price range to help satisfy the strong demand.”
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Source:: FX Street