Menu

Search

  |   Commentary

Menu

  |   Commentary

Search

U.S. pending home sales falls sequentially in March, remains at strong level

Pending home sales in the U.S. dropped sequentially in March after rising robustly in the prior month. The sales fell 0.8 percent month-on-month, as compared with February’s rise of 5.5 percent and consensus expectations of a decline of 0.1 percent. On a year-on-year basis, the pending home sales rose 0.5 percent, as compared with the 2.4 percent decline in the prior month.

On sequential basis, sales dropped as limited supply was a drag on contract signings. However, despite the decline in sales, the index continues to be at a strong level consistent with continued improvement in existing home sales.

Region wise, sales dropped in all regions except the South that registered a rise of 1.2 percent. Notably, the West recorded one of the biggest drops, as supply and affordability pose as major challenges. Existing home sales recorded a moderate first quarter rise of 1.4 percent, implying broker commissions on property sales that feed into the calculation for residential investment that will likely rise a bit over the quarter, noted Wells Fargo in a research report.

“We expect housing to support U.S. economic growth in the first quarter and look for residential investment to rise at a 10.5 percent annualized rate in Q1”, added Wells Fargo.

Overall, today’s report implies a rebound in the housing market momentum in the first quarter. The data continues to be supportive of a modest recovery in the housing sector for this year, noted Barclays in a research report.

At 16:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength of US Dollar was neutral at 13.0065. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

  • Market Data
Close

Welcome to EconoTimes

Sign up for daily updates for the most important
stories unfolding in the global economy.