by Calculated Risk on 6/01/2011 11:07:00 AM

From MarketWatch: General Motors U.S. May sales fall 1.2%

[GM] said Wednesday that May U.S. car sales fell 1.2% to 221,192 vehicles from 223,822 a year ago.

The key number for the economy is the seasonally adjusted annual sales rate (SAAR) compared to the last few months, not the year-over-year comparison provided by the automakers. Once all the reports are released, I'll post a graph of the estimated total May light vehicle sales (SAAR) - usually around 4 PM ET.

The consensus is for a decrease to 12.8 million SAAR in May from 13.2 million SAAR in April, however I think we will see a sharper decline because of supply chain issues. Sales in May 2010 were at a 11.62 million SAAR. I'll add the reports from the other major auto companies as updates to this post.

Update from MarketWatch: Ford U.S. May sales virtually flat

Ford said Wednesday U.S. May sales were virtually flat, declining 0.1% to 192,102 vehicles, compared with 192,253 in the year-ago period.

Yesterday on housing:
• Case Shiller: National Home Prices Hit New Low in 2011 Q1
• Real House Prices and Price-to-Rent: Back to 1999
• The Excess Vacant Housing Supply
• Lawler: Census 2010 and the US Homeownership Rate
• Home Prices Graph Gallery