U.S. Aug new home sales rose 3.4 pct

Biz.Yahoo/Reuters ^ | september 25, 2003

[Starwind]

U.S. Aug new home sales rose 3.4 pct
Thursday September 25, 9:57 am ET

 WASHINGTON, Sept 25  (Reuters) - U.S. Commerce Department
Reported sales of new single-family homes, seasonally adjusted,
with percent changes from prior month (numbers in 1,000s).
.             Pct   Aug    Jul    Jun    Aug'02
Total Units   3.4 1,150  1,112  1,179     1,025
 By Region:   Pct   Aug    Jul    Jun       
  Northeast  12.5    81     72     83       
  Midwest    12.9   245    217    188       
  South      -1.1   529    535    549       
  West        2.4   295    288    359       
Total August sales of new single-family homes rose 12.2
percent from August 2002.
In 1,000s:        Aug    Jul    Jun
Actual Units Sold    100     96    105
Sales Prices:                      
  Mean             237.5  251.8  237.8
  Median           184.5  192.5  186.3
Note-Actual number of new single-family units sold is not
seasonally adjusted.
Monthly percent changes of total sales, seasonally adjusted,
from prior months as follows:
.                Jul    Jun    May
Total Units     -5.7    9.1    7.7
Number of Months:       Aug    Jul    Jun
 Supply of Homes        3.7    3.7    3.6
1,000 units:            Aug    Jul    Jun
 End-Month Inventory    347    340    343
 FORECAST:
 Reuters survey of economists forecast:
 U.S. Aug new home sales annual rate of 1.123 million units
 HISTORICAL COMPARISONS/NOTES:
 U.S. AUG END-MONTH INVENTORY HIGHEST SINCE 350,000 UNITS IN
JULY'96
 U.S. AUG HOME SALES RATE 2ND HIGHEST ON RECORD
 US JULY HOME SALES REV TO -5.7 PCT FROM -2.9 PCT, RATE REV
FROM 1.165 MLN UNITS

[Starwind]

The full Dept of Commerce report (.pdf) is at NEW RESIDENTIAL SALES IN AUGUST 2003

[Starwind]

Fyi...

[harpseal]

Ping on or off let me know

[zencat]

The economy is so bad that well over a million people will find themselves reconciled to living in new homes over the next year.

[Starwind]

This is Existing Home Sales data, also released today from the National Association of Realtors:

=DJ Table Of Data On US Existing Home Sales

.
                            August    July     June
                     (Annual Rate In Millions Of Units)
Existing Home Sales,        6.47      6.13     5.83
Seasonally Adjusted
 Percent Change             5.5       5.1      0.3
 Northeast                  0.710     0.700    0.650
 Midwest                    1.380     1.340    1.290
 South                      2.620     2.460    2.290
 West                       1.760     1.630    1.600

Month's Supply Available    4.6       4.6      5.1

(Not Seasonally Adjusted)
Actual Sales               0.636     0.620    0.597
Average Price             $224,500  $228,200  $223,200
Median Price              $177,500  $181,600  $175,000
 

  (END) Dow Jones Newswires

  09-25-03 1051ET- - 10 51 AM EDT 09-25-03

That's quite a spike up from June. I wonder if these are distress/foreclosure sales, or folks upgrading/moving into new homes?

[Joe Hadenuf]

Realestate in Souther California is gold. Only so much prime land, in a region of perfect, year around weather to go around. Even in a lousy economy, RE is King in California.