U.S. January Existing Home Sales - Bounce may be difficult to sustain
January existing home sales at 4.00m were the highest since August and stronger than expected, though the 3.1% increase was not, with some of the upside surprise coming from upward revisions to Q4 data, which still remains quite weak.
Sales had trended lower in 2023 after a sharp rise in February and a rise was expected this January in response to lower mortgage rates in late 2023, as well as positive signals from pending home sales and the MBA and NAHB surveys on housing demand. With mortgage rates starting to rise again there may be limited further upside.
The median price fell by 0.6% on the month, a seventh straight monthly decline though part of this weakness is seasonal. Yr/yr growth picked up to 5.1% from 4.1% to reach its highest since October 2022.
