Posted on 02/26/2013 1:07:12 PM PST by blam
MICHELLE MEYER: Don't Get All Excited About Today's Huge Home Sales Report
Mamta Badkar
February 26, 2013
This morning we saw two huge housing data points.
Home prices posted their biggest gain since July 2006, while new home sales surged 15.6 percent month-over-month.
However, the already tight housing supply is getting even tighter.
Bank of America economist Michelle Meyer tells us that while we are seeing an improvement in new home sales, today's data could be revised in coming months and that monthly data should be interpreted with caution since it can be very volatile.
She also says that housing supply is very tight and if we don't see a greater supply in the housing market, it will have an upward pressure on home prices.
BAML expects home prices to rise by 4.7 percent in 2013.
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BI: New home sales spiked 15.6 percent in January. What's behind those numbers?
Michelle Meyer: The 15.6 percent increase was certainly above expectations, and it is an outsized gain even for this series which tends to be volatile. So we have to put that percentage gain into perspective and realize that with the data being quite volatile, particularly at this time of the year, we could see a revision or a partial payback in coming months. But that said, I do believe that the trend is still higher for new home sales and I think we should expect to see continued improvement, given the fact that inventory is low not just for new construction properties but also for existing properties, and that creates opportunities for building.
BI: Can the rise be attributed to just a weaker base?
Michelle Meyer: So December was down three percent but November was up eight percent. If you look at a monthly
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Michelle is very good at what she does. She’s right not to look at the month-to-month data. The trend is favorable however.
XHB up 2.97%
ITB up 3.89%
“””Home prices posted their biggest gain since July 2006””””
It is called inflation.
That's why I posted the gold chart.
That's what I believe it's saying too.
What happened that these homes be closed in Dec?
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