Preview of US existing home sales - Nomura

Analysts at Nomura offered a preview of the next key US data.

Key Quotes:

"Existing home sales increased 3.3% m-o-m to an annualized 5690k in January, despite continued low supply of previously owned homes. The months’ supply indicator was at 3.6-month supply in January, unchanged from December, which was the lowest since January 2005. With a sustained low supply of previously owned homes, it appears unlikely that we will see a strong pick up."

"Against this backdrop, we expect a 1.8% decline in existing home sales to an annualized rate of 5590k in February. Incoming data suggest that the number of mortgage applications for home purchases declined, and pending home sales, which tends to lead existing home sales by 6 to 8 weeks, fell modestly as well in January. Although unusually warm weather may have positively affected existing home sales, we expect the impact from weather to have been limited."