New home sales 10-year high baffles economists
After hitting a new low in August, new home sales surged in September to their fastest pace in the past decade, according to the latest report released jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Sales of new single-family houses in September surged to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 667,000 sales, the report showed. This is up a full 18.9% from 561,000 new home sales in August and up 17% from 570,000 sales in September 2016. The increase marked the fastest pace of home sales in 10 years.
This sudden increase came much to the shock of economists, who said September would likely see a slight drop in home sales.
“Expectations were for a modest decline in sales as the current sales component of the NAHB’s Housing Market Index slipped in September and purchase applications were down in the MBA’s mortgage applications survey for August,” Nationwide Chief Economist David Berson said, explaining applications tend to be an indicator of sales activity.
However unexpected the news, experts were thrilled, saying this is the news they’ve been waiting to here.
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