U.S. Existing Home Sales Surge During February
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
- Sales strengthen to five-month high.
- Improvement is widespread across regions.
- Home price decline stabilizes.
Despite higher mortgage rates, home demand has strengthened. Sales of existing homes increased 14.5% during February (-22.6% y/y) to 4.580 million (SAAR) after easing an unrevised 0.7% to 4.000 million in January. Sales stood at the highest level since September after falling in January to a roughly twelve-year low. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected February sales of 4.20 million units.
Single-family home sales rose 15.3% (-21.4% y/y) to 4.140 million after weakening an unrevised 0.8% in January to 3.590 million units. Sales had fallen consistently in each month since early-2022. Condo and co-op sales improved 7.3% (-32.3% y/y) to 440,000 after holding steady m/m in January.
Sales rose m/m across the country. In the West, sales strengthened 19.4% (-28.3% y/y) to 860,000 after a 2.9% January improvement. Sales in the South increased 15.9% (-21.3% y/y) to 211,000 last month following a 1.1% January rise. Also strengthening by 13.5% (-18.7% y/y) in February were sales in the Midwest to 1.090 million after falling 5.0% in the prior month to 960,000. Sales in the Northeast posted a lesser 4.0% gain (-25.7% y/y) to 520,000 which recovered all of the January decline.
The number of existing homes for sale (NSA) held steady (+15.3% y/y) at 980,000 in February after increasing 2.1% in January, which was the first after five straight months of decline. The supply of homes on the market (NSA) fell to 2.6 months from 2.9 months at the current selling rate, but remained higher than the record low of 1.6 months reached in January of last year. These figures date back to January 1999.
The median price of an existing home (NSA) rose 0.5% (-0.2% y/y) to $363,000 following seven straight months of decline. They were 12.3% below the June peak of $413,800. Prices rose last month in most regions of the country except the Northeast where they declined 7.1% (-4.5% y/y). The median price of an existing single-family home rose 0.6% (-0.7% y/y) to $367,500 while the price of existing co-ops and condos were fairly steady (+2.5% y/y) at $321,000.
The data on existing home sales, prices and affordability are compiled by the National Association of Realtors. The data on single-family home sales extend back to February 1968. Total sales and price data and regional sales can be found in Haver's USECON database. Regional price and affordability data and national inventory data are available in the REALTOR database. The expectations figure is from the Action Economics Forecast Survey, reported in the AS1REPNA database.
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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