11/28/12, “Surprise: Right After The Election, New Home Sales Tumble From Downward Revised Two Year High,“ Zero Hedge
“There are those who may be surprised that last month’s number of Seasonally Adjusted New Home Sales, which was then reported at 389K, and which number
hit the airwaves days before the Obama reelection,
was the highest since April 2010. We are not among them,
as we were fully expecting today’s number to be a major revision of the September number lower
- as just happened,
with the whopper of a print revised far lower to 369K – but doubled down with
the additional miss of expectations of Seasonally Adjusted annualized new home sales of 390K for October when in reality only 368K were sold.
All these numbers are annualized. When observed on an as is basis, in October there was a grand total of 29,000 new homes sold in the entire USA, with the
Northeast representing a whopping… 2,000 of this.
Oh and of the 29,000 houses sold, 9,000 were not even started. And finally, for those who enjoy pointing out the rise in home prices driven only and exclusively by foreclosure inventory stuffing and removal of all such real estate from the open markets,
both the median and average new home price ($237,700 and $278,900) printed at at the lowest since June. Oh wait, we know: Sandy’s fault (Oct. 29). Which explains all bad data. When the data is good, it is nobody’s fault.
Please point out the housing “recovery” on the chart below.”
Sandy storm didn’t hit the northeast until evening on Mon. Oct. 29. Reuters wants to help Obama so they describe it hitting “at the end of October.”
After devoting a few lines to “some suggest” scary weather may have been the cause of the entire month being poor they note the Commerce Dept. saying Sandy had no effect on data collection and overall impact was "minimal."
11/28/12, “New home sales stagnant, cast shadow on housing,” Reuters, J. Lange
“New U.S. single-family home sales fell slightly in October and sales for the prior month (Sept.) were revised sharply lower, casting a faint shadow over one of the brighter spots in the U.S. economy.
The Commerce Department said on Wednesday sales dropped 0.3 percent last month to a 368,000-unit annual rate, [forecast was 390,000, below] while September’s sales pace was revised to 369,000 from 389,000….
Sales weak in Northeast
Some analysts suggested the decline in sales in October might be partially due to a mammoth storm that slammed into the U.S. East Coast at the end of October.
New sales plunged 32.3 percent in the Northeast, which bore the brunt of the storm.
“Some of this could potentially be Hurricane Sandy,” said Megan McGrath, an analyst at MKM Partners in Stamford, Connecticut.
However, the Commerce Department said the storm did not affect data collection at all and its impact on sales was likely “minimal.”
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast sales rising to a 390,000-unit rate last month from September’s previously reported 389,000-unit rate.
To provide support for the housing market, the Fed has kept interest rates at rock-bottom levels since 2008. In September, it launched an open-ended program to buy mortgage-backed securities,
- driving mortgage rates to record lows.”
11/28/12,”U.S. New Home Sales Dip 0.3% In October, September Rate Revised Sharply Lower,” RTTnews.com
“New home sales in the South, the nation’s largest housing market, also fell 11.6 percent to an annual rate of 176,000.”…(item near end of article)
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Ed. note: Keeping interest rates at zero eliminates modest passbook savings interest seniors have traditionally used to pay for food. Like everything else, no one cares.
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