Investor's wiki

Existing Home Sales

Existing Home Sales

What exactly? A measure of the selling rate of used houses. Incorporates a geographical breakdown as well as a measure of prices and house inventory (the number of months it would take to drain the existing supply of used houses at the current sales pace).
Source: National Association of Realtors
Frequency: Monthly
Delivered when? On the 25th of the month (or on the primary business day from there on) at 10 a.m. Eastern. Data for prior month.
Market importance: Some. Some of the time moves markets. Convenient. Considered a decent measure of close term spending for lodging related things and of consumer spending overall.
Other notes: Sales of existing (or used) houses account for generally 84% of all houses sold. Sales of new houses account for the other 16%.

Features

  • The reporting of most existing home sales data happens after the transaction has closed.
  • The month to month data report is delivered by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and is a trailing result, as it will in general respond after a change in mortgage rates.
  • Existing home sales track regional transaction data in the existing U.S. stock of single-family residences, apartment suites, and centers.