Despite dropping slightly in the last month of 2020, the latest pending home sales registered as the highest ever recorded in the month of December (NAR)
The Pending Home Sales Index saw slight decline of 0.3% to finish at 125.5 in December. An index of 100 is equal to the level of contract activity in 2001.
- FOUR IN A ROW: This was the fourth consecutive month of month-over-month declines
- Y-O-Y: Year-over-year contract signings jumped 21.4%
The South continues leading all four regions despite having the smallest uptick in December
- The South: Increased 0.1% to an index of 150.6 which is up 26.6% from December 2019
- The Northeast: Increased 3.1% to an index of 112.0 which is up 22.1% from December 2019
- The Midwest: Actually fell 3.6% to an index of 111.7 which is up 13.9% from December 2019
- The West: Was unchanged with an index of 111.3 which is up 18.9% from December 2019
Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said in a statement, “This elevated demand without a significant boost in supply has caused home prices to increase and we can expect further upward pressure on prices for the foreseeable future,”
THE FUTURE: Yun projects that rates will remain low and existing-homes sales are likely to reach 6.49 million. This would be a 15% increase from 5.64 million in 2020