2014.04.1711:05:00UTC+00Us Home Sales Likely to Get Worse Before They Get Better

Quotes from Capital Economics:

- March's existing home sales (10.00 EST Tue. 22^nd Apr) were probably still affected by the earlier severe weather, but the timelier new home sales measure should have picked up.

- Existing home sales are measured at the contract closing stage, meaning that they reflect signings from a month or two earlier. The upshot is that March's numbers are still likely to show a degree of weather-related disruption. We've taken our lead from the pending home sales measure and have pencilled in a 2.2% m/m decline to 4.50m annualised sales.

- New home sales (10.00 ESTWed. 23^rd Apr.) are a more timely measure of activity as they are measured at contract signing. The recent acceleration in jobs growth points to a recovery in new home sales, and we have pencilled in a 2.3% m/m rise to 450,000 annualised sales.