US Existing Home Sales Preview: Expected to drop most in four years

American home sales, which soared in February, should reverse sharply in March as the Coronavirus closures kept buyer and sellers socially distant in the second half of the month, FXStreet’s analyst Joseph Trevisani reports.

Key quotes

“Sales of existing homes are forecast to drop 8.1% which would be the largest one month decline since November 2015. The annualized selling rate in February of 5.77 million units was the highest in 13 years and a 6.5% increase from January’s 5.42 million. On the year sales were up 7.2% in February.” 

“Information from the real estate brokerage Redfin showed a nearly 150% jump year over year in listed home being taken off the market in the last week of March.”

“Estimates for annualized GDP in the first three months of the year are 4% in the Reuters survey of economists and 0.3% from the Atlanta Fed on April 16, with an update due on the April 24.”