Inquiring minds may be interested in seeing how new home sales are reported and revised over time.
Let’s take a look at every month this year to spot the trends.
| New Home Sales in Thousands SAAR as Reported and Revised Jan-May 2016 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | As Reported in January | As Reported in February | As Reported in March | As Reported in April | As Reported in May | April-May Revision |
| January | 496 | 502 | 521 | 526 | 526 | 0 |
| February | 512 | 519 | 538 | 525 | -13 | |
| March | 511 | 531 | 522 | -9 | ||
| April | 619 | 586 | -33 | |||
| May | 551 | |||||
The above table produced from Census Bureau Historical Data following a ping from reader Tony to look at all the revisions, not just April to May revisions.
SAAR means Seasonally Adjusted Annualized rate.
Revision Synopsis
- January was revised higher in February, March and April. As reported on June 23, January new home sales were finally correct. Hooray!
- February was revised higher in March and April, but lower in May.
- March was revised higher in April and lower in May.
- April was revised lower in May.
- May is nearly certain to be revised next month. History suggests March, April, and possibly February revisions coming up.
For discussion of new home sales for May, please see New Home Sales Decline 6%, Median Price Down 9.3%, Builders Offer Concessions.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
