Friday, May 25, 2007

Existing Home Sales Fall

- Existing Home Sales for April fell to 5.99M versus estimates of 6.12M and an upwardly revised 6.15M in March.

BOTTOM LINE: Sales of previously owned homes in the US unexpectedly fell in April, Bloomberg reported. The number of existing homes on the market at the current sales pace climbed to 8.4 months’ worth. Purchases fell 8.8% in the Northeast and fell .7% in the Midwest. They fell 1.2% in the South and fell 1.7% in the West. The median price of an existing home fell .8% from a year earlier to $220,900. Economists view new home sales as a more timely barometer because they are recorded when a contract is signed. New home sales, reported yesterday, rose the most in 14 years and inventories fell the most in 26 years. I expect existing home sales to bounce back nicely next month. I continue to believe home sales are stabilizing at relatively high levels by historic standards.

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