Question 13.25

13.25 Existing home sales.

Each month, the National Association of Realtors releases a report on the number of existing home sales. The number of existing home sales measures the strength of the housing market and is an key leading indicator of future consumer purchases such as home furnishings and insurance services. Consider monthly data on the number of existing homes sold in the United States, beginning in January 2010 and ending in June 2014.16

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  1. Use software to make a time plot of these data.
  2. Describe the overall trend present in these data.
  3. Do these data exhibit a regular, repeating pattern (seasonal variation)? If so, describe the repeating pattern.

13.25

(b) Overall, existing home sales are going up. (c) There is seasonal trend every year, with sales up between April and June and lows during January and February.