New Home Sales Best Estimates; Rates Up Again; Should we Care About Oil Prices?

New Home Sales Best Estimates; Rates Up Again; Should we Care About Oil Prices?

New home sales continued on a winning streak in March , increasing for the third straight month. The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development said sales of newly constructed homes were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 692,000 units during the month. This is a 4.5 percent increase over the revised (from 667,000) rate of 662,000 in February and 3.0 percent higher than the March 2018 estimate of 672,000 new homes. Analysts polled by Econoday expected a pullback in March after the strong numbers earlier in the year. They had forecast sales in the range of 630,000 to 660,000. Their consensus was 645,000 units. On a non-adjusted basis there were 68,000 new homes sold in March compared to 56,000 in February and 66,000 a year earlier. For the year-to-date, sales