US New Home Sales: A bit of a wakeup call - Wells Fargo

Today’s data showed a larger-than-expected decline in June’s New Home Sales. According to analysts from Wells Fargo, the weakness in housing is getting harder to explain away. 

Key Quotes: 

“New home sales fell 5.3 percent in June to a 631,000-unit pace.”

“New home inventory has been rising and June’s 5.7-month supply is well within historical norms.”

“June’s softer new home sales should serve as a bit of a wakeup call. Housing simply is not going to strengthen as much as had been hoped. Higher mortgage rates and rising home prices are apparently a bigger hurdle than policymakers expected. Sales have fallen in two of the past three months.”

“Both the median and average price fell in June, as the share of homes priced just below the median accounted for a larger share of overall sales.”