Pending Home Sales Index Rises Year-over-Year
Here is some surprisingly good news from the NAR:
"The Pending Home Sales Index,1 a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in August, jumped 7.4 percent to 93.4 from an upwardly revised reading of 87.0 in July, and is 8.8 percent higher than August 2007 when it stood at 85.8. The index is at the highest level since June 2007 when it stood at 101.4.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said home buyers were responding to improved affordability. Yun notes the unusual timing of contract activity in August. “Home buyers in July were hampered by overly stringent lending criteria in the months before the government takeover of Fannie and Freddie," he said. “August shows some unleashing of pent-up demand before the credit crisis accelerated in September."
The primary gains were in the West -- Las Vegas, Arizona, and Southern California -- where prices have dropped 35-45%.
Not that the biggest gainer was foreclosure sales in the West, up 18.4% month over month.
The year over year gains are significant . . . now we have to see if this is a one off, or the start of a new trend.
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Source:
Pending Home Sales up Strongly
Realtor.org October 08, 2008
http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/2008/pending_home_sales_up
Wednesday, October 08, 2008 | 10:15 AM | Permalink
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Impossible, the devils in the details! Housing is no where close to improving for a few years atleast.
Posted by: Viv | Oct 8, 2008 10:35:56 AM
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