Home sales surge in April

December new home sales data was just released and missed expectations falling 7.3 percent month-over-month. The most concerning detail about the report however was inventory at the end of December.

The Pragmatic Capitalist submits: There were only two stories worth paying attention to yesterday. The first was the increase in inventory in the existing homes sales report.

The US housing market showed another sign that the free-fall could be slowing as figures showed that pending home sales rose for the third month running in April as record low mortgage rates are luring buyers

David Merkel submits: Sorry that I did not do this in real time. When the FOMC released its report, I was with my sons touring college campuses. Anyway, here is the comparison:

The U.S. housing market has been one of the bright spots of the global economy. But the data hasn't not been uniformly bullish. Economists have noted that new home sales has been a laggard.  And with housing starts roaring back, some are concerned that the market for new homes may soon see a supply glut. Here's TD Securities Millan Mulraine:

TORONTO — It’s looking like an unsettling spring in Canadian housing, a market that has proven far more even-keeled and less scary for investors in recent years than in the United States. In what is traditionally the best season of the year for real estate agents, Toronto agent Ecko Jay says the industry is seeing far fewer buyers, a result of tighter lending rules, high prices and fear of a bubble. In Toronto alone, sales dropped 40% in the first quarter from a year earlier, making homeowners and investors jumpy.