New Home Sales Plunge In January As Mortgage Rates Spiked

After rising for two straight months, US New Home Sales were expected to decline 2.6% MoM in January data released today… and drop they did. New Home Sales puked 10.5% MoM in January (from a hugely upwardly revised December print of +8.1% from +3.6%)…

Source: Bloomberg

That dragged sales down 1.1% YoY…

Source: Bloomberg

Some have argued that winter weather impacted sales… to which we retort – aren’t there winter storms every year around this time of year? Maybe the analysts were stuck in rainbows and unicorn land?

The median price of new homes surged to $446k from $415k…

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, some might argue that the recent drop back towards 7.00% in mortgage rates may encourage sales in February…

Source: Bloomberg

…we won’t be holding our breath (especially for new homes in DC).