Friday, January 26, 2007

New Home Sales Better than Expected, Durable Goods Orders Strong

So two bits of good economic news today. Durable Goods (those lasting more than three years) orders were up last month as well as new home sales. New home sales were also adjusted up for November and inventory in December fell below 6 months, a number that many consider a balanced market. Could we have had a bottom in November? Time will tell..........

From the WSJ

New Homes

"New-home sales finished 2006 on a positive note, rising a second straight month in December....In the home-sales report, sales of single-family homes increased by 4.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.120 million, the Commerce Department said Friday. November sales rose 7.4% to 1.069 million, revised from a previously estimated 3.4% advance to 1.047 million. Economists had expected a 1.2% increase to an annual rate of 1.060 million last month......

.....New-home inventories fell in December, a sign builders are getting supply under control. There were an estimated 537,000 homes for sale at the end of the month -- the lowest level since 522,000 in January 2006, the government data showed. That represented a 5.9 months' supply at the current sales rate. An estimated 542,000 homes were for sale at the end of November, a 6.1 months' inventory....

....The median price rose to $235,000 last month from $232,200 in November but was lower than the year-earlier level of $238,600.

Spending on Durable Goods Climbs

Orders for durable goods, big-ticket items such as cars and appliances meant to last three years or more, advanced 3.1% last month to a seasonally adjusted $221.87 billion, the Commerce Department said Friday. Durables rose 2.2% in November, revised from a previously estimated 1.6% increase. For all of 2006, durables rose at a not seasonally adjusted 7.0%, after rising 8.6% during 2005.

Orders for commercial planes increased 26.5% last month, while military aircraft orders rose 20.5%. Overall, transportation orders were up 4.8%, after rising 10.2% in November. However, a key barometer of business-equipment spending -- orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft -- increased by 2.4%, after falling 1.0% in November."

By Jeff Bater - WSJ

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for writing this.