Jan existing home sales -3.2% to 5.38m......>

US DATA: Jan existing home sales -3.2% to 5.38m saar, well below expectations

for 5.62m and following a slight downward revision to the previous month to

5.56m. The January sales pace was the lowest for a January since 1999 and were

down 4.8% year/year, the largest decline since Aug 2014. 

- Annual revisions were included with the data, and after those are

incorporated, the January sales pace was below the fourth quarter average of

5.59m and 5.51m for 2017 as a whole, suggesting a slow start to the year.

- Sales were -3.8% for single-family homes and +1.6% for condos. There were

sales declines in all four regions of the country in January.

- The supply of homes +4.1% to 1.52m, -9.5% y/y, though the months supply ticked

up to 3.4 months. The median sales price fell in January to $240,500, but was up

5.8% from a year earlier, well outpacing the rate of wage growth. 

- NAR's Yun said markets remain fast, with short days on the market. Prices

continue to rise due to a lack of inventory of affordable homes. He again noted

that new home building needs to be ramped up to lift supply. Also, rising

interest rates may be keeping some owners from changing homes.