Following existing home sales post-regs change spike, new home sales (after 9 months of missed expectations) soared 10.8% in December to a seasonally-adjusted annualized rate of 544k (smashing expectations of just 500k). This is 1k short of the February 545k highs going back to Feb 2008. Median home prices dropped however (a good thing for affordability but not so much for The Fed's wealth illusion machine) to the lowest since May.

Home Sales (SAAR) soar..

And the good news (for affordability) is prices tumbled...

One wonders where these two lines will converge. The question is - with all this exuberant bounce back in home sales, why are homebuilders so unimpressed?

Charts: Bloomberg