Dissecting the drooping home sales numbers

The World

Existing and new home sales numbers for May came out this week, and they were nothing to get excited about. Economists and experts were blown away by figures announced by the Commerce Department on Tuesday. While a drop in sales was expected, no one expected the 32.7 percent nose-dive from the previous month’s sales.

“A lot of this is due to the tax buyer credit offered by the government,” says Charlie Herman, economics editor for The Takeaway and WNYC. “It poached home sales.”

To learn more about why this drop happened, and what it means for the overall state of the economy, Charlie Herman once again joins the program.

Will you support The World with a monthly donation?

Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you. We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.

Make a gift today, and you’ll help us unlock a matching gift of $67,000!