Highlights
New home sales join existing home sales to show major gains in October, results tied to the expiration of first-time buyer credits, credits which have since been extended and expanded. New home sales jumped 6.2 percent in October to a much higher-than-expected annual rate of 430,000. Supply is very low, the result of improving sales but also reflecting the heavy cutback in housing starts. Only 239,000 new homes were on the market in October in what is the lowest number going all the way back to 1971. Supply at the current sales rate fell to 6.7 months vs. September's 7.4 months and compared with 11.1 months a year ago.

Thin supply is helping prices with the median price up 0.7 percent in the month to $212,200 for a year-on-year rate that is barely negative, at minus 0.5 percent. In contrast, the average price fell 8.3 percent to $261,100 pointing to firmer prices at the lower end of the market, the area where sales activity appears to be concentrated.

October's pace in the housing sector was skewed by stimulus effects and is not likely to be repeated in November though new stimulus efforts are likely to limit any dip. October's strength is definitely impressive and hints at underlying resilience in the economy. Stocks and commodities moved higher in reaction to today's report.

Market Consensus Before Announcement
New home sales in September fell 3.6 percent to a much lower-than-expected annual rate of 402,000. Supply on the market was steady and still elevated with months' unchanged at 7.5 months. However, it was a notable improvement from earlier in the year and especially against the year-ago level of 10.9 months. Apparently, the likely reason that existing home sales did well in September but not new home sales is that homebuilders were trying to keep sales prices up while those in existing home have been more willing on price concessions. The median price of new homes rose 2.5 percent in the latest month to $204,800.

2009 Release Schedule

Released On: 1/29 2/26 3/25 4/24 5/28 6/24 7/27 8/26 9/25 10/28 11/25 12/23 Released For: Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov