New Home Sales, Home Prices, Fed talks

October 26, 2015

Monday – October 26

The Commerce Department reported on Monday that September New Home Sales fell 11.5% from August to an annual rate of 468,000 units, below the 550,000 expected. August was revised lower to 529,000 from 552,000. The Northeast was the hardest hit with a near 62% decline from August. Despite the September declines, sales are up 2% since September 2014. Rounding out the report it showed that the median price was $296,000, up 13.5% from a year ago.

Home prices edged higher in August from July, led by rising prices in New York. Black Knight Financial Services reported that its Home Price Index (HPI) was up 0.3% in August from July and up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Since the beginning of 2015, prices are up 5.6% and are up 27% since the start of 2012. The Black Knight HPI summarizes sales concluded during each month using a repeat sales analysis of home prices as of their transaction dates.

The Federal Open Market Committee meeting will kick off Tuesday on Capitol Hill where Fed members will meet to discuss the economic conditions across the nation. The meeting will conclude on Wednesday with the 2:00 p.m. ET release of the Monetary Policy Statement. It is currently expected that the short term Fed Funds Rate will remain near zero percent at this meeting, due to global economic uncertainty, low inflation here in the U.S. and a mixed bag of economic data in the past two months.