The US Dollar is down against the majority of its most traded peers after data showed that existing home sales declined by 1.2% month by month to an annualized rate of 5.08 million units.
The data came in below economist expectations of a month by month rise to an annualised rate of 5.26 million units sold. According to the data the number of existing houses for sale at the end of June was the fewest for any June since 2001 as rising house prices reduced the number of cheap houses on the market.
“What’s holding sales down is just that there’re just not a lot of homes for sale,” Patrick Newport, an economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts said before the report. “We’re not expecting really strong numbers for the rest of the year even though the housing market is getting hot. What you’re seeing is this pent-up demand show up in higher prices, not in higher sales.” He projected a June sales rate of 5.12 million.
The price for an average House increased by 13.5% last month to $214,200 in June compared to the previous year’s value of $188,800.
Also weighing upon the Dollar is the dampened speculation that the US Federal Reserve will bring an end to its massive monetary easing programme. The speculation has seen the ‘Greenback’ decline against the Euro, Rand and other commodity based currencies; against the Canadian Dollar it slumped to a one-month low.
Current US Dollar (USD) Exchange Rates
The US Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6522
The US Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.7591
The US Dollar/Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.0825
The US Dollar/Japanese Yen Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 99.8953
The US Dollar/Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.0350
(Correct as of 15:40 pm GMT)
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