After climbing the previous two months, sales of existing homes declined in March. March existing home sales came in at a 4.190 million unit rate, down 4.3% from February and down 3.7% compared to the 4.350 million unit rate in March 2023.
Shipments of heating and cooling equipment continued to rebound in February, now up for the third consecutive month. HVAC equipment shipments totaled 1.727 million units, up 2.9% from January and up 3.7% from 1.665 million units in February 2023.
After contracting for sixteen consecutive months, economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in March. The March ISM Manufacturing Index came in at 50.3, up from 47.8 in February and up from 46.3 last March. This is the highest monthly reading since September 2022.
New orders for manufactured durable goods increased in February after sliding the previous two months. New orders increased to a $277.9 billion rate, up 1.4% from January and followed a 6.9% decline in January.
