Weaker-Than-Expected Existing Home Sales Has Little Impact On Gold Prices
(Kitco News)- The gold market continues to ignore U.S. economic data withweaker-than-expected home sales data unable to push prices higher Wednesday.
Wednesday, National Association of Realtors (NAR) said on Wednesday thatexisting home sales declined 3.2% in January, to a seasonally adjusted andannualized rate of 5.38 million units, compared to December's annualized rate of5.56 million homes. Economists were expecting to see the sales rate fallslightly to 5.57 million unites.
Goldprices were holding on to modest gains, just off session highs and is relativelyunchanged initial reaction. April gold futures last traded at $1,333.20 anounce, up 0.15% on the day.
This is the second consecutive month that existing homessales have disappointed market expectations. For the year home sales dropped4.8% last month, its biggest annual decrease since August 2014.
According to Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said thatweaker sales are the result of falling supply and higher prices.
"While the good news is that Realtors in most areas aresaying buyer traffic is even stronger than the beginning of last year, salesfailed to follow course and far lagged last January's pace. It's very clearthat too many markets right now are becoming less affordable and desperatelyneed more new listings to calm the speedy price growth," he said.
The NAR said that the median house price increased 5.8% froma year ago to $240,500 in January.
While prices are up, supply remains muted, with the associationsaying that as of the end of January there was an inventory of 1.52 millionhomes, representing a 3.4-month supply.
By Kitco NewsFor Kitco News
Follow @kitconewsnow
news@kitco.com Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.