Not surprisingly, pending home sales fell in April, according to the latest data from The National Association of Realtors (NAR)
- The Pending Home Sales Index was 106.2 in April, a drop of 4.4% when compared to the previous month
- Pending sales jumped 51.7% when compared to the same time last year at the depths of lockdowns across the country.
Regionally, Pending sales dropped in all U.S. regions except the Midwest…
- The Midwest saw the only increase, up 3.5% from last month and up 39.4% from April 2020.
- The West had the smallest drop at 2.6% in April with a 57.3% jump from last year, the South fell 6.1% and was up 45.3% from April 2020, and the Northeast had the biggest decline at 12.9% but was up 96.5% when compared to last year.
Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, had a hypothesis on why the Midwest was the only region with growth. “Some buyers from the expensive cities in the West and Northeast, who have the flexibility to move and work from anywhere, could be opting for a larger-sized home at a lower price in the Midwest.”