New home sales drop; Shell denies reports of merger talks with BP; Walmart, Intel plan more job cuts

Continued challenges facing the housing economy spurred May’s U.S. sales of new single-family houses to fall 13.7% from the prior month and decline 6.3% from a year earlier, according to the latest data released Wednesday by the Commerce Department and Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Based on seasonally adjusted annual figures, the government said 623,000 new homes were sold last month. The median sales price was $426,600, up 3.7% from the previous month and increasing 3% from May 2024. Unsold housing inventory increased 1.4% from April and rose 8.1% from a year earlier.

Analysts at forecasting firm Oxford Economics said new home sales were weaker than expected in May, noting sales for prior months have been revised lower by the government.

“While builder incentives may prevent a steep decline in new home sales, we see no real upside for sales in the months ahead, given our forecast for mortgage rates to remain elevated and the labor market to soften,” Oxford lead U.S. economist Nancy Vanden Houten said in a statement Wednesday.

Earlier this week, the National Association of Realtors reported that May’s sales of existing single-family homes rose by a slight 0.8% from the prior month while decreasing 0.7% from a year earlier. The trade group cited high mortgage rates and affordability challenges among factors in a lingering sales slowdown.

Energy giant Shell on Wednesday denied media reports saying it was in talks to acquire rival BP for as much as $80 billion in what would be the biggest energy industry consolidation in several years.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal Wednesday reported that representatives of both energy firms were in early talks on a potential Shell acquisition of BP. The Journal said such a landmark merger was “far from certain” and discussions were moving slowly. 

“This is further market speculation,” Shell said in a statement sent Wednesday to several news outlets. “No talks are taking place.” In a separate statement, Shell said it is “sharply focused on capturing the value in Shell through continued focus on performance, discipline and simplification.” BP did not immediately respond to a request from CoStar News to comment.

The Journal report followed a similar May report by Bloomberg that a merger was being discussed, also based on knowledgeable sources. Any merger between Shell and BP, both based in the United Kingdom, would require multiple levels of international regulatory approval.

CoStar data showed Shell operates at 17,000 locations worldwide, and BP does business at more than 9,000.

Employment downsizing continues to play out in multiple industries, reflected in California notification filings this week. The latest moves include plans by Walmart to cut 381 jobs at four office locations in the Sunnyvale area effective Aug. 22, with chipmaker Intel planning to trim 107 positions in its headquarters city of Santa Clara effective July 15.

State filings showed tech companies in particular escalating cuts in the San Francisco Bay Area, after numerous industry reductions nationwide during the past year. Medical equipment maker Boston Scientific plans to eliminate 23 positions in Sunnyvale starting Aug. 2, after last month’s cut of 56 workers by chipmaker Renesas in San Jose and Milpitas, California.

Also, Washington, D.C.-based BET Media Group, owned by Paramount Global, told employees Wednesday that it was making job cuts across several departments, according to a staff memo obtained and reported by news site Variety. The number of cuts was not immediately reported, but they are part of a larger planned 3.5% workforce reduction announced by Paramount earlier this month.