Home Sales Fell

Home sales on existing homes decreased 27.2 percent in the month of July, which brought the seasonally adjusted annual rate down 3.83 million from a 5.26 million homes in the month of June. The inventory of homes unsold rose 2.5 percent to 3.98 million, which makes it a 12.5-month supply at the current selling rate, which is up from June, which was at 8.9-month supply.

The seasonally adjusted composite index of mortgage applications as reported by the Mortgage Bankers Association for the week that ended on August 20 rose 4.9 percent. Refinancing applications increased 5.7 percent while purchase volume increased 0.6 percent. Refinancing was 82 percent of all applications.

Durable good orders that are expected to last three years or longer increased 0.3 percent in the month of July after a decrease in 0.1 percent in June. This rise was mainly due to better demand for commercial aircraft. Orders showed a decrease of 3.8 percent excluding volatile transportation related goods.

Sales on new homes decreased 12.4 percent in the month of July to a seasonally adjusted rate of 276,000 homes from a rate of 315,000 in the month of June. This was the lowest reading since 1963. Economists had believed to see 330,000 units.

The Commerce Department second report stated the gross domestic product, which is the total output of goods and services that were produced in the United States rose at an annual rate of 1.6 percent during the second quarter of 201o instead of the increase of 2.4 percent, previously reported.

Unemployment initial claims benefits decreased by 31,000 to 473,000 for the week that ended on August 21. Economists had believed claims would fall to 490,000 whereas continuing claims for the week that ended on August 14 decreased by 62,000 to 4.46 million.

Reports upcoming included August 31 – housing price index, September 1 – construction spending, and on September 2 – pending home sales.

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