New home sales for February
- Prior report here
- new home sales be estimates at 667K versus 620K. The prior month was revised higher to 636K versus 607K
- month-to-month gain 4.9% versus 2.1% expected. Prior month revised to 8.2% versus -6.9% previously reported
- medium price, $315,300, up from $303,900 last month. The price is down -3.6% year on year or $11,900
- The mean price rose to $379,600 from $358,000 last month. That is a year on year increase of 1.6%
Impressive numbers for the housing market. The sales figures should get an added boost going forward on the back of the sharp fall in treasury yields. As a result the 30 year mortgage rate has moved down toward 4% from about 4.25% a week or so ago (the fall in rates last week was the largest in a decade). This opens up the market to new buyers and greater affordability.
How significant is the drop? Rates are now down almost a full percentage point from the 5.05% they hit last October, which was the highest level for a home loan since February 2011. That move is not reflected in this data today.
