US New Home Sales Dive 7.6% in August

$DIA, $SPY, $QQQ, $VXX

The US Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Monday morning that sales of new homes in August slipped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 609,000, a decrease of 7.6% below the revised July rate of 659,000 and an increase of 20.6% compared with the August 2015 rate of 505,000.

The consensus estimate from a survey of economists expected a rate of around 598,000. The April rate was revised downward by 48,000.

At the peak in Y 2005, new home sales posted a seasonally adjusted annual rate of nearly 1.4-M.

The Census Bureau also reported that the median sales price for new homes sold in August fell by $10,600 from $294,600 in July to $284,000, and the average home sales price fell by $2,200 to $353,600. At the end of August the number of new homes for sale totaled 235,000 and represented a supply of 4.6 months at the current sales rate.

In August, 55% of the estimated 50,000 monthly home sales were sales for homes priced at less than $300,000. The percentage is 3 points higher than the July rate.

Sales of homes priced between $300,000 and $399,999 fell by three points to 20% of all sales.

Sales of homes in the range of $400,000 to $499,999 rose fell from 12% of sales to 10%, and sales rose from 9% to 10% for homes sold in a range of $500,000 to $749,999.

Home sales for properties priced above $750,000 accounted for 5% of all new home sales in August, up from 4% in July.

The increase in sales of lower-priced homes is the primary factor in the sharp drop in median and average prices in August. That may be good news because lower-priced homes are typically the choice of 1st-time buyers.

Monday, the major US stock market indexes finished at: DJIA -166.62 at 18094.83, NAS Comp -48.26 at 5257.49, S&P 500 -18.59 at 2146.10

Volume: Trade was below recent averages with about 755-M/shares exchanged on the NYSE

• Russell 2000: +9.3% YTD
• S&P 500: +5.0% YTD
• NAS Comp: +5.0% YTD
• DJIA +3.8% YTD

Stay tuned…

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Paul Ebeling

Paul A. Ebeling, polymath, excels in diverse fields of knowledge. Pattern Recognition Analyst in Equities, Commodities and Foreign Exchange and author of “The Red Roadmaster’s Technical Report” on the US Major Market Indices™, a highly regarded, weekly financial market letter, he is also a philosopher, issuing insights on a wide range of subjects to a following of over 250,000 cohorts. An international audience of opinion makers, business leaders, and global organizations recognizes Ebeling as an expert.

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