Pending home sales kept the positive streak alive with an unexpected increase in February, according to the latest data from the National Association of Realtors.
- M-O-M: The Pending Home Sales Index increased to 83.2 in February, up 0.8% from last month and the highest level since August 2021. Reminder, an index of 100 is equal to the level of contract activity in 2001.
- Y-O-Y: Pending transactions fell 21.1% when compared to the same time last year.
Swing & A Miss. Economists projected that pending sales would fall 2.3%.
South On Top. While the South didn’t see a big jump in February, the index is the highest at 99.3, up 0.7% from January but still down 21.7% from February 2022.
- The Midwest index increased 0.4% to 84.9, down 16.5% from last year. The Northeast saw the biggest jump with a 6.5% increase to an index of 72.5, down 17% from last year.
- The West was the only region that fell with a 2.4% decline to an index of 64.6, down 28.4% from one year ago.
Analysis. Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR, notes that the housing recovery s upon us and being led by two main regions. “After nearly a year, the housing sector’s contraction is coming to an end…Existing-home sales, pending contracts and new-home construction pending contracts have turned the corner and climbed for the past three months…The affordable U.S. regions – the Midwest and South – are leading the recovery,”