Economic Watch: New Home Sales Hit 10-Year High, Manufacturing Eases a Bit
Sales of new homes rose last month while two separate reports show the nation’s manufacturing sector is nearly as strong this month as it was during October.
Sales of newly built, single-family homes in October rose 6.2% from the month before to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 685,000 units from a downwardly revised September reading of 645,000, according to new Commerce Department figures released Monday.
This is the highest sales pace since October 2007 and the third straight monthly increase. Year-to-date, new home sales are 8.9% above their level over the same period last year.
“The October report shows strong sales growth at entry-level price points,” said Granger MacDonald, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders. “In markets where builders are able to provide homes for families with different household budgets, they can fulfill a growing demand for housing.”
New home sales increased in all four regions. Sales rose 30.2% in the Northeast, 17.9% in the Midwest, both possibly due to mild weather, while sales increased 6.4% in the West and 1.3% in the South.
“There is solid growth in the number of sales contracts signed before construction has begun, a strong indicator that new single-family home production should continue to grow as we look ahead to 2018,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz.
First Look at November Manufacturing Shows Small Decline
This followed a report from Friday that showed the pace of manufacturing in the U.S. remains strong so far this month, but is down just a bit from October’s level, according to financial information services firm IHS Markit.
Its data indicated a positive month with output, new orders and employment all rising at solid rates, however, with a reading of 53.8, the seasonally adjusted Flash U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index pointed to a slightly slower improvement in business conditions than the nine-month …Read the rest of this story
