Important data for North America softwood lumber manufacturers is out Friday; US existing home sales for February 2019. After three consecutive months of decline, existing home sales in the US, released by the National Association of Realtors, rebounded strongly in February. This is the largest monthly gain since December 2015.
Total existing home sales in the US rose +12% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.51 million in February, the highest level in the past eleven months. On a year-over-year basis, sales were -2% lower than a year ago.
Read our previous release on this subject: US Single-Family Built-for-Rent Construction: Full-Year 2018.
Meanwhile, the first-time buyer share increased to 32% in February from 29% last month and a year ago.
The February inventory increased to 1.63 million units from 1.59 million units in January, and was up from 1.58 million units compared to a year ago.
At the current sales rate, the February unsold inventory represents a 3.5-month supply, down from a 3.9-month supply last month but up from a 3.4-month supply a year ago.
Be ahead of public data releases! Madison’s Lumber Prices, delivered every Friday morning, are a good forecast indicator of US home builder’s current lumber buying activity ——> DETAILS
Existing homes for sale in the US stayed on the market for an average of 44 days in February, down from 49 days in January but up from 37 days a year ago. In February, 41% of homes sold were on the market for less than a month.
The February all-cash sales shared 23% of transactions, the same as January’s share, but slightly lower than the 24% in February 2018.
The February median sales price of US$249,500 was up +3.6% from a year ago, representing the 84th consecutive month of year-over-year increases. The February median condominium/co-op price of US$233,000 was up +3.1% from a year ago.
