New Home Sales Fall
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New Home Sales Fall; Factory Orders Jump
Thursday July 27, 12:05 pm ET
By Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer
New Home Sales Fall in June While Inventory Hits Record High; Factory Orders Jump
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sales of new homes fell in June by the largest amount in four months while the inventory of unsold homes climbed to a record high, providing further evidence that the once-booming housing sector is slowing.
The Commerce Department reported Thursday that new home sales dropped by 3 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 1.131 million units. It marked the first drop since an 11.5 percent plunge in February.
Sales of both new and existing homes set records for five consecutive years as the housing industry enjoyed a boom powered by the lowest mortgage rates in four decades. But rates have been steadily rising this year as the Federal Reserve tightens credit conditions as a way to slow the economy and keep inflation under control. Analysts are looking for home sales to drop by around 10 percent this year.
The government reported that the median price of a new home was $321,300 in June, which was up by just 2.3 percent from a year ago and was down by 1.5 percent from May.
In other economic news, the government reported that orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket durable goods jumped by a stronger-than-expected 3.1 percent in June, powered by a rebound in demand for commercial aircraft.
The Labor Department said that the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits last week fell by 7,000 to 298,000, indicating continued strength in the labor market even though job growth has slowed in recent months.
The drop in existing home sales was slightly smaller than the 4.8 percent decline economists had been expecting.
It left the number of unsold homes at a record high of 566,000. At the June sales pace, it would take 6.1 months to sell the backlog of homes, a figure that is up sharply from the 4.3-month supply of unsold homes a year ago when the housing market was still booming.
Economists are looking for new home sales to slow further as mortgage rates continue to rise, putting increased downward pressure on prices.
In June, sales were weak in every section of the country except the West, which posted an 8.2 percent increase after a decline of 7.3 percent in May. Sales fell 11.3 percent in the Northeast and were down 7.9 percent in the Midwest and 6 percent in the South.
The weakness in sales of existing homes has been even more pronounced. The National Association of Realtors reported that sales were down in June for the eighth time in the past 10 months while the median price of an existing home sold in June was up just 0.9 percent last month compared to June 2005, the smallest year-over-year increase in a decade.
The big worry is that home sales will fall so sharply that it could send shockwaves through the entire economy, much as the bursting of the stock market bubble in 2000 contributed to the 2001 recession. But so far, economists said the decline in housing is contributing to a slowdown in the overall economy but they are not forecasting a recession.
The 3.1 percent increase in new orders for durable goods was much better than the 1.7 percent gain that Wall Street had been expecting.
Much of the strength came from an 8.8 percent surge in demand for commercial aircraft, which followed two months of big declines in this category. Last month, Boeing Co., America's biggest plane maker, booked orders for 135 aircraft, up from 33 in May.
Analysts believe that output in the manufacturing sector will continue to rise in coming months but at a slower pace, reflecting an economy that is slowing under the impact of surging energy prices, rising interest rates and the cooling housing market.
A report due Friday on economic growth is expected to show the economy expanded at an annual rate of around 3 percent in the April-June quarter, far below the sizzling 5.6 percent rate of growth in the first three months of the year.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress last week that the Fed believed the slowing economy would serve to moderate inflation pressures -- comments that investors took as a strong signal that the Fed's two-year campaign to boost interest rates was drawing to a close.
For June, orders for durable goods, items expected to last at least three years, totaled $216.3 billion, an increase of $6.52 billion from the May level.
Excluding transportation, orders were up a solid 1 percent in June with strength being shown in demand for computers, communication equipment and primary metals such as steel.
New Home Sales Fall; Factory Orders Jump
Thursday July 27, 12:05 pm ET
By Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer
New Home Sales Fall in June While Inventory Hits Record High; Factory Orders Jump
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sales of new homes fell in June by the largest amount in four months while the inventory of unsold homes climbed to a record high, providing further evidence that the once-booming housing sector is slowing.
The Commerce Department reported Thursday that new home sales dropped by 3 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 1.131 million units. It marked the first drop since an 11.5 percent plunge in February.
Sales of both new and existing homes set records for five consecutive years as the housing industry enjoyed a boom powered by the lowest mortgage rates in four decades. But rates have been steadily rising this year as the Federal Reserve tightens credit conditions as a way to slow the economy and keep inflation under control. Analysts are looking for home sales to drop by around 10 percent this year.
The government reported that the median price of a new home was $321,300 in June, which was up by just 2.3 percent from a year ago and was down by 1.5 percent from May.
In other economic news, the government reported that orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket durable goods jumped by a stronger-than-expected 3.1 percent in June, powered by a rebound in demand for commercial aircraft.
The Labor Department said that the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits last week fell by 7,000 to 298,000, indicating continued strength in the labor market even though job growth has slowed in recent months.
The drop in existing home sales was slightly smaller than the 4.8 percent decline economists had been expecting.
It left the number of unsold homes at a record high of 566,000. At the June sales pace, it would take 6.1 months to sell the backlog of homes, a figure that is up sharply from the 4.3-month supply of unsold homes a year ago when the housing market was still booming.
Economists are looking for new home sales to slow further as mortgage rates continue to rise, putting increased downward pressure on prices.
In June, sales were weak in every section of the country except the West, which posted an 8.2 percent increase after a decline of 7.3 percent in May. Sales fell 11.3 percent in the Northeast and were down 7.9 percent in the Midwest and 6 percent in the South.
The weakness in sales of existing homes has been even more pronounced. The National Association of Realtors reported that sales were down in June for the eighth time in the past 10 months while the median price of an existing home sold in June was up just 0.9 percent last month compared to June 2005, the smallest year-over-year increase in a decade.
The big worry is that home sales will fall so sharply that it could send shockwaves through the entire economy, much as the bursting of the stock market bubble in 2000 contributed to the 2001 recession. But so far, economists said the decline in housing is contributing to a slowdown in the overall economy but they are not forecasting a recession.
The 3.1 percent increase in new orders for durable goods was much better than the 1.7 percent gain that Wall Street had been expecting.
Much of the strength came from an 8.8 percent surge in demand for commercial aircraft, which followed two months of big declines in this category. Last month, Boeing Co., America's biggest plane maker, booked orders for 135 aircraft, up from 33 in May.
Analysts believe that output in the manufacturing sector will continue to rise in coming months but at a slower pace, reflecting an economy that is slowing under the impact of surging energy prices, rising interest rates and the cooling housing market.
A report due Friday on economic growth is expected to show the economy expanded at an annual rate of around 3 percent in the April-June quarter, far below the sizzling 5.6 percent rate of growth in the first three months of the year.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress last week that the Fed believed the slowing economy would serve to moderate inflation pressures -- comments that investors took as a strong signal that the Fed's two-year campaign to boost interest rates was drawing to a close.
For June, orders for durable goods, items expected to last at least three years, totaled $216.3 billion, an increase of $6.52 billion from the May level.
Excluding transportation, orders were up a solid 1 percent in June with strength being shown in demand for computers, communication equipment and primary metals such as steel.
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