Existing Home Sales Fall Modestly

- Existing Home Sales for October fell to 7.09 million versus estimates of 7.20 million and 7.29 million in September.

BOTTOM LINE: US previously owned home sales fell a larger-than-expected 2.7% last month, Bloomberg reported. Sales would have declined 3.2% in October excluding hurricane-related buying activity. The median price of an existing home rose 16.6% to $218,000 in October, the largest increase since July 1979. Sales fell 7.4% in the Northeast, 1.9% in the Midwest, 1.8% in the South and 1.2% in the West. Existing home inventories rose to 4.9 months’ worth at the current sales pace, an increase from 4.6 months’ worth the prior month. I continue to believe the housing market is slowing, not plunging, to more healthy sustainable levels.