Wintry weather affects pending US home sales
Pending home sales are down and additional declines are expected from
abnormal weather conditions, according to the National Association of
Realtors® (NAR). The Pending Home Sales Index a forward-looking indicator based on contracts
signed in January, fell 7.6 percent to 90.4 from an upwardly revised 97.8 in
December, however, it’s still 12.3 percent higher than January 2009 when it
was 80.5.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says weather likely impacted the housing
data. “January pending sales, though still higher than one year ago, remain
much lower than expected,” he says. “Moreover, the
abnormally severe and prolonged winter weather, which affected large regions
of the U.S., hampered shopping activity in February.”
“We will see weak near-term sales followed by a likely surge of
existing-home sales in April, May and June,” Yun says. “The real question is
what happens in the second half of the year. If there is sufficient job
creation, housing can become self-sustaining with stable to modestly rising
home prices because inventory has been trending downward.”
Posted: 4 March 2010
Source: Florida Association of Realtors
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