New Home Sales m/m comes in at 1.6% against -3.7% consensus

USD New Home Sales m/m for July 2026 was released at 14:00 UTC today, showing a month over month increase of 1.6%. This figure significantly exceeded the market consensus expectation of a -3.7% decline. The actual print represents a 143.2% surprise compared to the consensus. The previous month’s reading was -7.3%.

Following the release, market reaction across USD pairs was varied over the initial 15 minutes. AUDUSD gained 3.5 pips, NZDUSD rose 2.0 pips, and USDJPY increased 4.3 pips. Conversely, EURUSD fell 3.9 pips, GBPUSD declined 0.1 pips, USDCAD dropped 3.9 pips, and XAUUSD decreased 96 pips. USDCHF saw a minor gain of 0.5 pips. For most pairs, these initial moves are relatively small when compared to their typical median 1-hour moves. For instance, AUDUSD’s 3.5 pips move is less than its median 1-hour move of 8 pips, and EURUSD’s -3.9 pips move is also less than its median of 8 pips. XAUUSD’s -96 pips move, however, exceeded its typical top-quarter move of 62+ pips.