Sales Report Wrapup

The Census Bureau and HUD reported today on sales in the US. I posted earlier that the overall number was down 9%. But after going over the report itself the picture is more interesting in the details.

The West coast was actually up, with the year-on-year January number sold up 17%. The Midwest and the Northeast both had 33% fewer homes sold in the same period. The South was down 3%. Prices were mixed.

With sales sharply down, the number of homes for sale increased by 74,000, a rise of 17% from January 2004. Of these 15,000 were added in January 2005 alone. You can download the Census Bureau/HUD report in PDF, which will require Acrobat Reader to open.

As if this wasn't enough to shake housing stocks, interest yields went on a tear, with the benchmark 10 year bond return jumping up over 2%.