Pending Homes Sales in US perk up. | CountingPips Forex & Currency Trading Blog

June 9, 2008 - Forex Economic News

Pending Homes Sales in US perk up.

U.S. Pending Homes sales rose unexpectedly for the month of April according to the monthly report produced by the National Association of Realtors. The NAR report showed that pending home sales contracts signed by buyers increased 6.3 percent in April beating market expectations and increasing the most in one month since 2001. Market forecastors had predicted the sales data would decline by 0.3 percent for the month and follows a decline of 1 percent in March. The pending home sales level is 13.1 percent below the April 2007 level but the positive numbers could mean that the housing downturn could be near an end. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun commented in the report about the increased sales figures this month, "Bargain hunters have entered the market en masse, especially in areas that have experienced double-digit price declines, but it’s unclear if they are investors or owner-occupants." On the state of the housing market, Yun contented that, "After unprecedented home price declines in the first half of the year, many markets can anticipate stabilizing price trends in the second half. The aggregate median existing-home price is likely to decline 8.4 percent in the first half of this year, and then begin to stabilize in the second half before rising 4.4 percent next year to $213,900."

Tags: pending home sales, us housing, us economy, NAR

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