US pending home sales recovery expected in 2011
Pending home sales retreated after two monthly gains, signalling an uneven
recovery entering 2011, according to the National Association of Realtors®.
The report was released at the 2010 Realtors® Conference & Expo in New
Orleans.
The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), a forward-looking indicator, slipped
1.8 percent to 80.9 based on contracts signed in September from an upwardly
revised 82.4 in August. The data reflects contracts and not closings, which
normally occur with a lag time of one or two months.
“Existing-home sales have shown some improvement, but the foreclosure
moratorium is likely to cause some disruption and contribute to an uneven
sales performance in the months ahead,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR chief
economist. “Nonetheless, there appears to be a pent-up demand that
eventually will be unleashed as banks resolve their issues with foreclosures
and the labour market improves.”
Existing-home sales are forecast to gradually rise, with some occasional
dips along the way. “For 2011 we should see more than 5.1 million
existing-home sales, up from about 4.8 million this year,” says Yun.
“Housing starts are expected to rise to 716,000 in 2011 from 598,000 this
year. We’ve added 30 million people to the US population over the past 10
years, but sales are where they were in 2000, so there appears to be a
sizable pent-up demand that could come to the market once the economy
gathers momentum.”
Posted: 5 November 2011
Source: National Association of Realtors
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