Börsennotizbuch

Der US-Immobilienmarkt zeigt – hoffentlich – kleine Zeichen einer Stabilisierung — die Verkäufe bestehender Eigenheime sind im Februar zum ersten Mal in sieben Monaten leicht gestiegen:

Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – rose 2.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (1) of 5.03 million units in February from a pace of 4.89 million in January, but remain 23.8 percent below the 6.60 million-unit level in February 2007. The sales pace has been in a fairly narrow range since last September.

Und zum Median-Preis einer Immobilie (aus dem Bestand):

The national median existing-home price (2) for all housing types was $195,900 in February, down 8.2 percent from a year earlier when the median was $213,500. Because the slowdown in sales from a year ago is greater in high-cost areas, there is a downward pull to the national median with relatively fewer sales in higher priced markets.

Beide Zitate: realtor.org, Existing Home Sales Rise In February

Nachtrag:

Das “hoffentlich” kann man eigentlich nur stärker betonen, denn Barry Ritholtz rückt die Daten aus dem US-Immobilienmarkt ins rechte (und schlechte) Licht:

As we noted yesterday, that was not what the data stated at all: “Changes from January to February are measuring seasonal differences, not actual improvements in house sales.” Can you imagine what it would be like if we reported retail sales from December to January this way? Headlines would misleadingly state: “Retail sales plummet 65%!” That is why with highly seasonal data series, the preferred methodology is to report year-over-year data — not month-to-month variations.

And what were those numbers? The year-over-year data for existing home sales were DOWN 23.8% below February 2007 levels. That datapoint never found its way into the WSJ article at all. I cannot recall a more blatant misreporting of fact, or a larger or more embarrassing error in a front page WSJ article, ever.

Wie man sieht, auch große Journalen können irreführende Titeln und Nachrichten veröffentlichen…

Und noch etwas ausführlicher erklärt: Der saisonale Effekt bei den Existing Home Sales.