WASHINGTON – Fewer housing sales were expected to close in March and April, based on contracts signed in February, the National Association of Realtors reported.
The NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index edged up 0.7 percent in February to 109.3 points (2001 = 100) from January’s 108.5, but remained 8.5 percent below its February 2006 level of 119.4. A sale is “pending” when a contract has been signed but the sale has not closed; most sales are finalized within one or two months of signing.
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In the Northeast, the index slipped 1.3 percent in February to 99.1 points, 8.2 percent below its year-ago level. Elsewhere, the PHSI in the South rose 4.5 percent to 121.9; in the Midwest, it rose 2.9 percent to 103.0; and in the West, it fell 6.0 percent to 104.1.
“If it wasn’t for the unusually bad weather in February, we’d be seeing a better performance in pending home sales,” David Lereah, the NAR’s chief economist, said in the report. “We also may be seeing some fallout from a decline in subprime lending.” In the months ahead, subprime mortgage problems “will become more apparent … and they will modestly depress the overall level of improvement in home sales.”
But, Lereah added, “the data suggests an underlying stabilization is taking place in the housing market, but it will take another month or two to clarify.”
Additional information is available at http://www.realtor.org.
