With temperatures in most of the country hitting near record highs in January and February, it begs the question, did much of the Spring market start early, and did it steal from the historically strong months of March and April?
“We think it has pulled forward a useful amount,” says analyst Stephen East of ISI Group. “It definitely helps breaking ground and has been a big help on the jobs front.”
In fact ISI studied weather in all four regions and reported that while favorable economic trends and specifically job growth are the primary driver of renewed housing activity, “We believe some demand was pulled forward from the later Spring months, implying the first quarter could be above investor expectations, while the second quarter could be below expectations.”
Weather cannot be discounted in home sales, especially sales of new construction, since builders can offer potentially faster turnarounds for new orders if they’re not hampered by frozen earth. February saw a big spike in the “current sales” component of the home builder sentiment index. Buyer traffic in March was unchanged.
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