Freddie Mac

Sales of new homes declined in April 2019 according to the Census Bureau.  Falling to an annualized 673,000 units from the upwardly revised count of 723,000 (originally 692,000), this monthly decline is the first of 2019.  April’s setback hurt the year-over-year trend which fell to 7.0 percent from 10.6 percent in March.

Existing home sales suffered their third consecutive setback.  According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), transactions fell 1.2 percent in January 2019 to 4.94 million units on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis; this is the worst reading since November 2015.

Existing homes sales were disappointing to start the second quarter of 2018 after moving higher in both February and March.  Month-over-month, transaction volume fell 2.5 percent in April.  Even more disappointing is the year-over-year tally which also fell, dropping 1.4 percent and declining for a second consecutive period.

America’s central bank increased the overnight interest rate (called the Fed Funds Rate) on Wednesday.  This is the Federal Reserve’s sixth hike since they began raising rates in December 2015.  At the time, Janet Yellen led the institution; four subsequent increases happened under her watch.  On February 5, 2018, Jerome Powell assumed the office, and he now has his f