Greatly Exceeded Expectations (Downside)～

According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, new home sales in January declined 17.6% month-over-month, with seasonally adjusted annualized sales reaching 587,000 units, the lowest level since 2022.

With this data released, the real estate sector basically "took the first hit itself"～

New home sales plummeted 17.6% month-over-month, directly hitting the lowest level since 2022, and this came as an additional blow on top of already pessimistic market expectations. It's a bit like thinking you only had a common cold, but when you check your temperature, it's directly at 39 degrees～

The logic behind it is actually quite straightforward: high interest rates and crushing mortgage costs, compounded by persistently elevated oil prices and rising living costs—who still has the mood to leverage up and buy a home? Put plainly, it's not that people don't want to buy, but rather that their wallets cast the deciding vote against it～

What's interesting is that real estate has traditionally been an "emotion amplifier" for the economy. When it turns cold, it's often not just itself that becomes cold, but it drags consumption and investment down for a cooldown together.

So don't view this as just a single data point. It's more like a signal:

The underlying demand of the market is starting to struggle a bit～