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Friday, October 20, 2017

Existing Home Sales Post First Gain In Four Months

Existing home sales posted their first gain in four months, rising 0.7 percent in September to a 5.390 million annualized rate that is near Econoday's top forecast. Hurricane effects are hard to gauge with the National Association of Realtors reporting that sales in Florida were down substantially though sales in Houston have already recovered.

The sales gain came at a price discount as the median fell 3.2 percent to $245,100 for what is still, however, a respectable 4.2 percent year-on-year gain. Supply is still very tight, at 1.900 million resales on the market which makes for a useful 1.6 percent gain though the yearly rate is down 6.4 percent. On a sales basis, supply is unchanged at only 4.2 months.

Sales in the South fell 0.9 percent in September and follow August's 5.7 percent decline. These may be hurricane effects but they're not overly substantial given mixed readings in other regions. All regions are either slightly lower to flat year-on-year.

And overall sales are flat, down 1.5 percent compared to September last year. Yet this report is positive for what is a lukewarm housing sector. Watch for sales of new homes and pending sales of existing homes on next week's calendar.


Recent History Of This Indicator:
Weakness in the Harvey-hit region of the South pulled down existing home sales by 1.7 percent to a 5.350 million annualized rate though sales in the West were also weak. Price strength has been slowing though supply of available homes on the market has remained very tight. The National Association of Realtors warned in the last report that hurricane effects could slow resales through the remainder of the year. Forecasters see September's results, a month hit by Hurricane Irma's strike on Florida, coming in a bit lower at 5.300 million.

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