May 22, 2024 14:13 GMT
A Small Miss For Existing Home Sales, Price Growth Accelerates Despite Higher Supply
US DATA
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- Existing home sales were a little weaker than expected in April at 4.14m (cons 4.23m) after an upward revised 4.22m in March (initial 4.19m).
- The latest profile leaves sales -1.9% M/M in April after a smaller than first thought decline of -3.7% M/M in March, still retracing the surprise 9.5% jump in Feb.
- Median prices helped offset the modest miss, accelerating from 4.7% to 5.7% Y/Y to push above the 5.6% in Feb for its highest since Oct’22.
- The strength in house price growth could meet a headwind in the months ahead though after a sizeable shift in relative supply.
- Specifically, months of supply increased from 3.2 in Mar to 3.5 in April vs the 3.0 in Apr’23 and 2.2 in Apr’22. It’s another step towards the 4.0 months averaged through 2017-19.
- See the contrast to relative supply vs new home sales in the chart below.
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