US March new home sales 0.693m vs 0.670m expected

• Best reading since Sept
• Prior was 0.662 million (revised to 0.637m)
• Sales +8.8% vs -0.3% prior
• Supply at 8.3 months vs 8.8 months prior
• Median price $437,700, down 1.9% y/y

I don’t find this terribly surprising. There are plenty of reports in the home building industry that consumers are turning to new homes rather than existing homes because builders are offering rate buy-downs (essentially below-market interest rates for a few years). They’ve found that to be a winning combination and the latest numbers from a handful of big US builders were strong.

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.