WREN Report: Consumer Spending Inches Up, New Home Sales Results Mixed

June 1, 2008  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in on June 2008 • Consumer spending on home furnishings inched up in April to $418.4 billion, up 1.5 percent over April 2007 spending. Compared with last month, home furnishings spending was up 1 percent.

Spending on furniture and bedding slipped in April, down 1.7 percent from this time last year to $85.4 billion. Measured against March spending, consumers spent 0.2 percent more on furniture and bedding in April.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) tracks consumer spending. Included in home furnishings is virtually everything in consumer homes, including home textiles, consumer electronics, home accents and major appliances. Antiques and valuable art are not included.

• Sales of new homes in April, on a seasonally adjusted basis, increased 3.3 percent compared with the prior month, surprising many analysts who had predicted sales would slip versus March sales. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in a joint release with the U.S. Census Bureau, announced preliminary results of 526,000 new home sales in April.

New homes sales skyrocketed in the Northeast, which posted a 41.7 percent increase in April measured against March sales. Sales in the Midwest increased 5.8 percent and were up 8.3 percent in the West. New home sales in the South slipped 2.4 percent.

Looking at year-over-year sales figures, new home sales fell 42 percent in April, with the Northeast taking the biggest hit, plummeting 58 percent compared with April of 2007. In the Midwest, new homes sales fell 39.7 percent, sales in the South were down 41.7 percent and new home sales in the West declined 37.8 percent.

• Paralleling new home sales results, the supply of new home sales available for sale, measured in the number of months on the market, decreased 4.5 percent to 10.6 months in April compared with March. Measured against year-ago numbers, the supply of new homes on the market increased 43.2 percent.

Weekly Review of Economic News (WREN) reports are summaries of recently-released economic statistical data that affect the home furnishings industry. WREN reports are compiled by HFB Research Editor Janice Chamberlain.