New Home Sales Flat

Housing

New Home Sales (August 2012)

– 373,000 Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate
– Previous was 374,000

Mortgage Bankers Association Applications (week ended 9/21/2012)

Purchase Index – Week/Week +1.0%
Refinance Index – Week/Week +3.0%
Composite Index – Week/Week +2.8%

Bloomberg headlines with “Sales of New U.S. Homes Hover Near a Two-Year High” which I suppose is correct but somewhat misses the point of today’s release.

New Home Sales is disappointing because sales drive home building and home building is a major driver of jobs and GDP. We don’t want New Home Sales to be “hovering” bur rather “taking off.”  The low interest rates we are having this week should drive the refinance index up in the next report.  Tough loan qualifying guidelines are impeding both purchases and refinancing.