Source: Calculated Risk
I have heard a fair amount of chatter about the awful winter weather’s impact on home sales. Let’s clarify the different measures in use for New and Existing Home Sales to see what we can find.
U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly release the New Residential Sales data. Census notes that a “sale” is defined as a “deposit taken or sales agreement signed.” This occurs much fairly early in the house transaction process.
As far as New Home Sales are concerned, the weather in March 2014 probably made only a minor impact at worst. Which makes the New House Sales slump to eight-month lows all the more significant.
What's been said:
Discussions found on the web: