- Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates Inc.
The number of purchases of new homes in the world's biggest economy dropped unexpectedly in October, showing limited progress in the housing market recovery. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, sales fell 0.3% to a seasonally adjusted 368,000-unit annual rate, from 369,000 in the previous month. The reading came strongly below the analysts' expectations of an increase to 390,000. The data leaves the pace of new home sales just below the pace reported in May, showing little upward momentum in the property market. However, a median home price of a new home jumped 5.7% from a year earlier, giving some upbeat signals that the housing sector is improving.
"Better job growth is the key factor," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates Inc. in St. Petersburg, Florida, who projected a 365,000 rate of sales. "We really have a lot of ground to make up from the recession."
"What we're seeing is improvement off of an extremely low bottom in the housing market," William Wheat, chief financial officer at D.R. Horton, said at a Nov. 15 conference. "We're seeing small amounts of job growth right now. We're going to need to see more over the long term. Jobs is the No. 1 driver for housing demand."
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