- NAR released a summary of pending home sales data showing that May’s pending home sales index is up for the fifth consecutive month. May’s pending sales are up 0.9% from last month and improved 10.4% from a year ago which is a solid gain.
- Pending sales are homes that have a signed contract on them but have yet to close. They tend to lead Existing-Home Sales data by 1 to 2 months.
- All regions showed increases from a year ago. The West saw the biggest gain from a year ago at 13.0% while the Midwest had the smallest gain at 7.8%.
- From last month only two regions had an increase; the Northeast had the largest gain at 6.3% while the South had a modest decline in pending sales at 0.8%.
- The pending home sales index level was 112.6 for the US. This marks the highest level since April 2006. The pending index has now been higher 100 for more than a year (13 months). The 100 level is based on a 2001 benchmark and is consistent with a healthy market and sales above the 5 million mark. Job creation, income growth and reasonable mortgage rates are going to help sustain housing activity.
