Pending home sales declined in April with regional variations following increases in February and March, according to April’s Pending Home Sales Index, released today by National Association of Realtors. The index, a forecasting indicator for the housing sector based on contract signings on existing homes, declined 11.6 percent to 81.9 in April from a downwardly revised 92.6 in March. The index is 26.5 percent less than the cyclical peak of 111.5, reached in April 2010, when buyers we scurrying to beat the contract deadline for the first time home buyer tax credit, the NAR said. Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist says the dip in contracts may be due to temporary factors including rising oil price, widespread severe weather with the heaviest precipitation in 20 years and a sudden hike in unemployment claims. He also identifies tight credit as the primary long-term factor hindering the market. The one region that showed gains in the pending home sales index was the Northeast, which gained 1.7 percent to reach 64.5 in April — still 33.4 percent lower than the index a year ago. “Even with very favorable affordability conditions, job growth and a pent-up demand from abnormally low household formation during the past three years, the recovery will continue to be uneven and sluggish given the ongoing credit constraints,” Yun said. TRD
U.S. pending home sales lose momentum
New York /
May.May 27, 2011
04:10 PM
Related Articles
arrow_forward_ios

Survey finds huge pay gap between white and Black realtors

Home sales drop in February as inventory remains at all-time low

Startup sues Zillow for suppressing lower-fee listings

Pending home sales fall for fifth consecutive month

Redfin to publish broker commissions on 700K listings

Pending homes sales dip for fourth straight month, but still break record

Vicious cycle creates “huge supply crunch,” pushing home prices up
arrow_forward_ios