U.S. new home sales rise sequentially in December

New home sales in the U.S. rose sequentially in December. The sales were up 3.7 percent, rising to 621k, from a downwardly revised November’s print of 599k. The miss compared to expectation was due to the significant downward revisions to prior months’ data. This is in line with other indicators that point to a gradual deceleration in housing sector activity. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, sales averaged 590k in the fourth quarter of 2018, the lowest since the third quarter of 2017.

Region wise, sales rose in four regions, led by a sharp rise in the Northeast at 13k, followed by the South at 5k. The months’ supply of new homes dropped to 6.6, but is still well above levels seen earlier in 2019.

With regard to home prices, the median price dropped 7.2 percent year-on-year, but was higher 5 percent sequentially. Average home prices dropped 6.4 percent year-on-year.

At 18:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was sllightly bullish at 69.8828 more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex