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IPFS News Link • Economy - Economics USA

Existing Home Sales Plunge "Surprising" 7.1%, Price Concessions the Norm;

• mishtalk.com

Demand for housing in February shocked to the downside. Existing home sales fell 7.1%  led by single family. Median prices fell 1.4%.

Data was so bad the National Association of Real Estate cheerleaders showed concern.

The Bloomberg Econoday Consensus was for 5.305 million sales at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate in a range of 5.200 million to 5.550 million sales.  The headline number came in at 5/080 million.

Highlights

Housing demand continues to soften with existing home sales down a surprising 7.1 percent in February to a 5.080 million annualized rate. This is much lower than expected and well below Econoday's low estimate for 5.200 million and is the second lowest rate since February last year. The report is weak throughout with single-family sales down 7.2 percent, at 4.510 million, and condos down 6.6 percent at 570,000. All regions show declines in the month.


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