In a welcome sign of strength, existing home sales rose 7.7% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.03 million units from an upwardly revised 4.67 million units in July. The inventory of unsold homes on the market decreased to 3.577 million, an 8.5-month supply at the current sales pace, down from a 9.5-month supply in July.
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo monthly housing market index fell one point in September to 14. An index reading below 50 indicates negative sentiment about the housing market.
Retail sales fell 1.2% for the week ending September 17, according to the ICSC-Goldman Sachs index. On a year-over-year basis, retailers saw sales increase 3.4%.
The combined construction of new single-family homes and apartments in August fell 5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 571,000 units. Single-family starts decreased 1.4%. Multifamily starts fell 13.5%. Applications for new building permits, seen as an indicator of future activity, rose 3.2% to an annual rate of 620,000 units.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted composite index of mortgage applications for the week ending September 16 rose 0.6%. Refinancing applications increased 2.2%. Purchase volume fell 4.7%.
The index of leading economic indicators — designed to forecast economic activity in the next three to six months — rose 0.3% in August, following a 0.5% increase in July.
Initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by 9,000 to 423,000 for the week ending September 17. Continuing claims for the week ending September 10 fell by 28,000 to 3.7 million.
Upcoming on the economic calendar are reports on new home sales on September 26, the housing price index on September 27 and pending home sales on September 29.
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