New Home Sales Hit Record Low

 

Both the Midwest and Northeast regions were hardest hit by winter snow storms, so market participants will be discounting the data a bit. What they should be doing is asking: Where is all the pent up tax credit demand? There is only one month left before expiration - Photo Courtesy of
Skywatch Media

After falling 11.2 percent to a pace of 309,000 annual sales in January, economists were expecting new home sales to rebound in February, but that didn’t happen.

In February, new home sales fell 2.2 percent to a record low 308,000 annual rate. This was much worse than consensus estimates which called for an annual pace of 320,000 units. January data was revised for the better from -11.2 percent at 309,000 units to -8.7 percent at 315,000 annualized sales.

New home supply rose to 9.2 months from 8.9 months in January. The median price of new homes rose from $207,900 to $220,500. The Northeast saw the biggest decline as sales dipped 20 percent. over the course of February. The Midwest was next in line with an 18 percent fall in sales activity. ?EUR??,,????'?????<