by Mike ‘Mish’ Shedlock
Mish Talk
Existing home sales bounced 5.1% from February’s steep decline of 7.3%, originally reported as -7.1%.
Sales came in at a 5.330 million seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR), better than the Bloomberg Econoday consensus estimate of 5.286 million.
Highlights
Existing home sales rose more than expected in March, up 5.1 percent to a 5.330 million annualized rate that, however, fails to reverse a downwardly revised 7.3 percent drop in February. And the year-on-year rate, at only 1.5 percent, is decidedly weak. But looking at the first quarter as a whole, which is important for housing data given their volatility, existing home sales are up a much more respectable 4.8 percent.
March’s gain is led by the most important component, single-family homes where the rate rose 5.5 percent in the month to 4.760 million. Year-on-year, single-family homes are up 2.6 percent. The showing for condos is less convincing, up only 1.8 percent in the month for a year-on-year decline of 6.6 percent.