New Home Sales Went Up. So What?

October 25, 2007 - Here’s another story that belongs in the “More Worthless Manufactured Key Economic Indicators Released by the Government” statistic. Out of Washington D.C. at 10 AM this morning, this story was released

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Sales of new homes (in the U.S.) rebounded in September from summer sales levels that were much weaker than previously reported, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Sales increased 4.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 770,000 from a revised 735,000 in August. Previously, August’s sales had been reported at a 795,000 pace. September’s sales were slightly higher than the 758,000 pace expected by economists. The three previous months were revised sharply lower, which means the housing market was much weaker in the middle of the year than previous believed. Sales of new homes are down 23.3% in the past year.

Now the consensus was for new home sales to come in around 760,000 to 780,000 which was about spot on as the reported figures came in at 770,000. Now that would have been a decline from previous month figures at 795,000 and more bad news for the housing market. So how do you spin bad news into good news that the sheep herd will follow? Read more …

1 comment October 25th, 2007