Home Sales and Prices up in Sane Manner.
Redbook Chain Store Sales (week ended 8/22/2015)
– Store Sales year/year +1.7%. Previous was +1.6%
FHFA House Price Index (June 2015)
– month/month +0.2%. Previous was +0.5%
– year/year +5.6%. Previous was +5.7%
S&P Case-Shiller HPI (June 2015)
– 20-city, seasonally adjusted month/month -0.1%. Previous was -0.1%
– 20-city, not seasonally adjusted month/month +1.0%. Previous was +1.1%
– 20-city, not seasonally adjusted year/year +5.0%. Previous was +5.0%.
Home price appreciation is modest especially given the low inventories. Toughened mortgage qualification standards have restrained buyers. This is not a bad thing. The housing bubble was the result of making mortgages to folks who could not afford the payments.
PMI Services Flash (August 2015)
– Level 55.2. Previous was 55.2
New Home Sales (July 2015)
– New Home Sales seasonally adjusted, annualized 507,000. Previous was 481,000.
Consumer Confidence (August 2015)
– Consumer Confidence 101.5. Previous was 91.0
This is the metric from The Conference Board.
Richmond Federal Reserve Manufacturing Index (August 2015)
– Level 0. Previous was 13.