October 30, 2007—New home sales rose 4.8% in September to 770,000 units but are down 23.3% compared to last year. Existing home sales, however, fell 8.0% during the same period and are down 19.1 on a year-over-year basis. Overall, the housing market remains weak. Last, new orders for durable goods fell a larger-than-expected 1.7% while orders for capital goods increased 0.4%.

New Home Sales
New home sales rose 4.8% in September to 770,000 units (seasonally adjusted annual rate). Despite the increase, sales on a year-ago basis are down 23.3%. The median sale price of a new home was $238,000 in September, up from $232,100 the previous month. Inventories fell 7.8% to 8.3 months of supply, but compared to one year ago, are up 22.1%.

Existing Home Sales
Sales of existing homes plunged 8.0% in September to 5.04 million units (seasonally adjusted annual rate) and are down 19.1% on a year-over-year basis. Concurrently, the median sale price for an existing home fell 5.7% to $211,700 and is down 4.2% compared to last September. Inventories rose 0.4% to 4.4 million units, or 10.5 months of supply. 'Months of supply' is up 43.8% compared to September 2006. Overall, the housing market remains very weak.

Durable Goods
New orders for durable goods declined a larger-than-expected 1.7% in September following a downwardly revised 5.3% decrease in August. Concurrently, new orders for core capital goods, which signify business investment in equipment and software, increased 0.4%.  Inventories and unfilled orders both grew in September, rising 0.4% and 1.1%, respectively. Last, shipments fell 2.0%.