Highlights
Just when it appeared housing indications were lining up together, new home sales take a giant tumble. New home sales plunged 11 percent in November to a 355,000 annual rate that is 60,000 below low estimates! The hit includes downward revisions of 42,000 to the prior two months.

The slowdown in starts wasn't enough to keep down November's supply which at 7.9 months is up from 7.2 months in October. Still, supply apart from the sales rate is well down, at only 235,000 units for the lowest since 1971. This report does however confirm a leveling in prices with the median price up 3.8 percent in the month to $217,400 for a marginal year-on-year decline of only 1.9 percent.

This report contrasts sharply with yesterday's sales data on existing homes that showed an enormous second-month of strength. But the extension and expansion of home-buyer credits, credits which first ended in November, will help underpin optimism and boost talk that today's report is an outlier. Stocks moved lower in immediate reaction to today's results.

Market Consensus Before Announcement
New home sales jumped 6.2 percent in October to a much higher-than-expected annual rate of 430,000. Supply was very low, the result of improving sales. Only 239,000 new homes were on the market in October in what was the lowest number going all the way back to 1971. Supply at the current sales rate fell to 6.7 months, compared to September's 7.4 months and compared with 11.1 months a year ago.

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