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.
If you like what you see and think this post would be of interest to someone, please share
