Housing Market Index Decreased Two Points
July 27, 2010
In July according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index decreased 2 points. Economists believed a reading of 16 would be reported. This was the lowest reading since April of 2009. Any reading above 50 is a sign of expansion but below this number indicates a negative atmosphere.
Retail sales increased 1.4 percent for the week that ended on July 17 according to the ICSC-Goldman Sachs index. Year over year retailers noticed an increase in sales of 4.2 percent, which is the best showing in the last two months.
New single-family homes and apartments construction decreased in June by 5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 549,000. New building permits applications, which are an indicator of the activity for the future increased 2.1percent to an annual rate of 586,000.
The seasonally adjusted composite index of mortgage applications as reported by the Mortgage Bankers Association for the week that ended on July 16 rose 7.6 percent whereas refinancing applications increased 8.6 percent and the purchase volume also increased by 3.4 percent.
In June, existing homes sales decreased by 5.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.27 million when it was at 5.66 million units in May. The inventory of unsold homes that were on the market was at 3.99 million, which was a 2.5 percent increase and is an 8.9-month supply at the rate of current sales which is up from the 8.3 month supply which was seen in May.
First claims for unemployment benefits increased 37,000 to 464,000 for the week that ended on July 17. Those filing continuing claims for the week that ended on July 10 decreased by 223,000 to 4.567 million.
Leading economic indicators index, which forecast economic activity for the next 3 to 6 months decreased 0.2 percent in June after a gain of 0.5 percent in May.
Economic calendars coming soon are new home sales July 26, housing price index July 27, and gross domestic product July 30.
5 Comments to Housing Market Index Decreased Two Points
Comments
Great article, thanks for sharing such helpful real estate information!
Nice to have such a thorough real estate blog that I can apply to my own life!
Great article,Highly recommend.I can apply them to my daily life.
We’re seeing similar statistics up here in Canada and Toronto and The Beach neighbourhood specifically.
The Toronto real estate market is the coolest it has been in two years – not necessarily a bad thing, mind you, but the days of fast easy sales appear to be over for the time being!
.-= Beaches real estate´s last blog ..June 2010- The ball is back in the buyer’s court =-.
nice article and very informative. thank you
.-= kathrine´s last blog ..Top Ten Serial Killers of the World =-.
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