Last month's dramatic miss of expectations for a modest post-weather pop in new home sales (having dropped 14.5% month-over-month) so it was inevitable that there would be a bounce. Modestly beating expectations, 433k annualized new home sales in April was only a 6.4% gain MoM thanks to the upward revision of the big miss in March. This 'recovery' remains well below the peak see in January - right in the middle of the worst weather impacted time in US history if one is to believe what the media is spewing. Before the 'housing recovery is back on track' meme gets going though, there is the fact that homes sold in the Northeast fell to the lowest since June 2012... as the average home price fell to $320,100 - the lowest since August 2013.
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A scratch below the surface shows that the April jump was all region, and driven by the Midest where New Homes sold were up a whopping 47.4% (35.5% Y/Y) in April to 84K. Contrast that with the Northeast which was down -26.7% (-31.3% Y/Y) to 22K
And perhaps the most interesting fact: both the median and average home prices were down Y/Y, by 1.3% and 5.0% respectively. Further, the average new home price of $320,100 was the lowest since August 2013.
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Charts: Bloomberg