New-Home Sales Rise 4.7%
Source: Wall Street Journal
Sales of new homes rose in February for the first time in seven months, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday, another sign that the housing market is thawing.
The increase was fueled by higher activity in the South and West, where deals on foreclosures and other "distressed" properties, particularly in California, are helping to drive interest.
Sales of new and existing homes are picking up month over month, and prices may soon follow. But the crosscurrent is whether unemployment will continue to rise, says USC real-estate economist Delores Conway. Stacey Delo reports.
The data "have allayed some fears that the housing market would continue to freefall," said Omair Sharif, an economist with RBS Greenwich Capital, "but it's way too early to say if we've hit bottom."
Wednesday marked the third consecutive day of positive news in the housing market, a contrast to the drumbeat of bad news in recent months. On Tuesday, a government gauge of home prices posted its first gain in almost a year, while Monday brought news that sales of previously owned homes, the biggest share of the market, also increased last month.
Also Wednesday, the California Association of Realtors said existing-home sales in the state were up 83% in February from the previous year, as the median home price was down some 40%, helping to shrink inventories to about a six months' supply from 15 months last year.
Bette Zerba, a real-estate agent in Phoenix, said a high level of foreclosures is prompting similar activity in her area.
"I thought the market looked spectacular right now and wanted to take advantage of it," said one of Ms. Zerba's clients, Rosanna Fischer, 40 years old, a first-time home buyer. She offered $175,000 on a 2,000-square foot bank-owned home with a pool in Glendale, Ariz., last week.
Shares of retail companies rose on Wednesday after government data showed durable goods orders and home sales rose more than expected. Home Depot was a leading gainer.
Sales of new homes nationwide rose 4.7% last month to a 337,000 annual rate, though they still are down sharply compared with this time last year, and increased competition from cheaper existing homes could hamper their sales ability in the coming months. The median sales price for a new home was $200,900 last month, down from $251,000 in February 2008, but still high compared with the median sales price of an existing home last month of $165,400.
Falling prices and low mortgage rates are helping to stir buying activity, along with the government's $8,000 tax credit, part of the stimulus bill, for buyers who purchase a home before Dec. 1. The number of new homes for sale -- some 330,000 units -- is the lowest in almost seven years, a sign builders are beginning to work through bloated inventories after cutting back on new construction.
Separately, data Wednesday showed that orders for manufactured goods rose last month for the first time since July, another signal that the U.S. recession isn't deepening. The Commerce Department said orders for manufactured durable goods -- items such as autos, furniture and appliances designed to last three years or more -- rose a seasonally adjusted 3.4% last month to $165.6 billion, the first monthly gain since July.
Last month's rise in orders, however, only partially reverses January's revised 7.3% drop, which is sharply lower than first estimated, and orders are still down nearly a quarter from the previous year. A key gauge of business spending -- orders for capital goods excluding defense and aircraft -- also rose after posting a revised 11.3% plunge in January.
Meanwhile, inventory levels of durable goods declined last month, a sign that the jump in orders is helping to pare bloated inventories, paving the way for a future production increase. But households are likely to remain under pressure for some time: Economists still expect the unemployment rate, now 8.1%, to flirt with double digits later this year or next.
—Jim Carlton contributed to this article.
Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123798406285137541.html
Write to Kelly Evans at kelly.evans@wsj.com
