Economic Snapshot: Pending home sales at third highest ranking of 2015

While pending home sales declined in June, the numbers are not far off from last month’s reading, which was the highest reading since April 2006.

Pending home sales

The Pending Home Sales Index fell 1.8 percent to 110.3 in June. The index is still 8.2 percent above June 2014 and, despite the decline, is the third highest reading for pending home sales in 2015.

Pending home sales have increased year-over-year for 10 consecutive months.

Pending home sales in the Northeast edged up 0.4 percent to 94.3 and is now 12.0 percent above the previous year. The index in the West increased 0.5 percent to 104.4 and is up 10 percent YOY.

In the Midwest, the index declined 3.0 percent to 108.1 but is 5.0 percent above June 2014. Pending home sales in the South also decreased 3.0 percent to an index of 123.5 but are 7.8 percent above last year.

The national median existing-home price for all housing types in 2015 is expected to increase around 6.5 percent to $221,000, which would match the record high set in 2006.

Consumer confidence

Consumer confidence fell nearly 9 points to 90.9 in July. The index had improved to 99.8 in June.

The Present Situation Index decreased from 110.3 to 107.4 and the Expectations dropped from 92.8 to 79.9.

Consumers who say business conditions are “good” decreased from 26.1 to 24.2 percent. However, those claiming business conditions are “bad” remained unchanged at 17.9 percent. Those stating jobs are “plentiful” decreased from 21.3 to 20.7 percent and those stating jobs are “hard to get” increased from 26.1 to 26.7 percent.

The percentage of consumers expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months declined from 17.9 to 14.7 percent and those expecting conditions to worsen rose fro, 10.2 to 10.7 percent.

Those anticipating more jobs in the months ahead decreased from 17.1 to 13.1 percent and those expecting fewer jobs increased from 15.2 to 20.0 percent. The proportion of consumers expecting growth in their incomes dropped slightly from 17.6 to 17.0 percent and those anticipating a decline increased from 10.6 to 11.2 percent.

New home sales 

Sales of new single-family houses were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 482,000 in June. This is 6.8 percent below the revised May rate of 517,000 but 18.1 percent above the June 2014 estimate of 408,000.

The median sales prices of new houses sold in June was $281,800 and the average sales price was $328,700. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of June was 215,000, which represents a supply of 5.4 months at the current sales rate.

GDP 

Real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 2.3 percent in the second quarter of 2015, according to the “advance” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Real GDP increased 0.6 percent in the first quarter.

The acceleration in real GDP growth in the second quarter reflected an upturn in exports, acceleration in personal consumption expenditures (PCE), a deceleration in imports and an upturn in state and local government spending. These were partially offset by downturns in private inventory investment, nonresidential fixed investment, federal spending and a deceleration in residential fixed investment.

 

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