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New Home Sales Fall For First Time in Six Months - This month single family new home sales fell for the first time since March. The annual pace of new homes sales was 402,000 sales per year, well below economist expectations for a pace of 440,000 annual new home sales. This is a 3.6% month over month decline. August new home sales data was also revised lower, from 429,000 to 417,000 sales per year. New home supply was unchanged at 7.5 months. The median home sale price was 204,800, 9.1% lower from September 2008. New home sales in the Northeast were unchanged, the Mid-West was 34% higher, the South experienced 10% less new home sales, and the West was 10.6% slower. Once again, only one geographical region experiences growth.

Mortgage Applications Decline. Refinance Demand Drops 16.2%. Purchases Down 5.2% - In last week's release, which reported data for the week ending October 16, mortgage application activity fell 13.7% as mortgage rates rose from 5.02% to 5.07%. The Refinance Index, adjusted for the Columbus Day holiday, decreased 16.8% from the previous week while the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index moved lower as well, decreasing 7.6% from one week earlier. The refinance share of mortgage activity fell to 65.0% of total applications from 67.4% in the previous week. In today's release, which covers new loan applications for the week ending October 23, the MBA reported that demand for new mortgages dropped 12.3%, even as mortgage rates fell from 5.04% to 5.07%.