Existing Home Sales Fall

An uptick in supply and lower prices failed to boost existing home sales in January, which unexpectedly fell 3.2 percent versus the marginally downward revised December to an annualized rate of 5.380 million, well below the consensus estimate of 5.650 million. Year-on-year, home resales were down 4.8 percent.

Though lack of supply continued to hamper sales volumes, supply in January's market increased 4.1 percent to 1.520 million homes. Supply thus increased from the 3.2 months in December to 3.4 months, still not far from 19-year lows and lack of choice remains a serious problem for the resale market.

But prices softened considerably in January, which won't be drawing new homes onto the market. The median selling price fell by a sharp 2.4 percent to $240,500 for a year-on-year increase of 5.8 percent.

Recent History Of This Indicator:
Existing home sales have been choppy but did finish 2017 on the uptrend. But the number of homes for sale are at a19-year low which should limit January's sales results. Against December's 5.570 million annualized rate, a 5.650 million rate is January's consensus.