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US New Home Sales: February 2019
Contracts for new, single-family home sales in the US increased almost +5% to a 667,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate according to estimates from the joint release of HUD and the US Census Bureau Friday. This gain came despite an upward revision for the January data. However, the previously reported December data was revised down significantly…
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US Pending Home Sales: February 2019
The US Pending Home Sales Index, reported Thursday by the National Association of Realtors, is a forward-looking indicator based on signed contracts. The PHSI declined -1% from 102.9 in January to 101.9 in February, and was -4.9% below the level one year ago, marking the fourteenth straight month of declines on an annualized basis. Be…
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US House Prices and Softwood Lumber Prices: January 2019
The Case-Shiller US National Home Price Index, reported by S&P Dow Jones Indices Tuesday, rose at a seasonally adjusted annual growth rate of +2.8% in January 2019, after rising +2.5% in December. On a year-over-year basis, the Case-Shiller US National Home Price Index rose by +4.3% in January, down from a +4.6% increase in December.…
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US Housing Starts and Softwood Lumber Prices: February 2019
Total US housing starts posted an -8.7% decrease in February, to 1.162 million units, compared to an upwardly revised January estimate of 1.273 million units, according to the joint data release Tuesday from the US Census Bureau and HUD. Relative to February 2018, total starts are -9.9% below the annual pace of 1.29 million units.The…
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Pent-Up Demand, Transportation Woes Keep Softwood Lumber Inventories Stocked
Most lumber talk was about the fabulous Montreal Wood Convention last week, a great event which draws sawmill industry folks together every year. Players there reported well-stocked inventories but a lag in production because deliveries to many parts of the US were stymied. Severe flooding has taken over large swaths of the midwest and the…
