U.S. October Existing Home Sales - Starting to gain momentum
A 1.2% rise in October existing home sales is in line with other private sector surveys (NAHB, MBA and pending home sales) suggesting some revival in the housing market as the Fed resumes easing. With the scale of future easing uncertain the housing sector outlook is too.
Government data has been absent recently though the last new home sales release (for August) saw a sharp bounce. It remains to be seen if that can be sustained.
Trend in existing home sales had been fairly flat but we have now seen two straight gains, October’s 1.2% increase similar to September’s 1.3% (revised from 1.5%0.
October details shows the rise led by the Midwest which was the only region to fall in September, while the only regional to fall was the South which outperformed in September.
The median price rose by 0.7% on the month lifting yr/yr growth to 2.1% from 1.4%, and it looks like July’s 1,.4% yr/yr ruse will prove a bottom. September was however softer than August’s 2.0%.
