Real estate: Pending home sales remain unchanged month-over-month
Published May 27, 2023, 4:20 a.m. by Bethany
sales of previously owned homes were unchanged in July from the prior month, according to the National Association of Realtors®.
The group's Pending Home sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, was 107.3 last month, down 0.6 percent from June and 0.8 percent below July 2016.
“Closings in recent months have been lower than a year ago, so it’s no surprise that contract activity is also lagging,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Home prices are still rising too fast in many markets and are unaffordable for first-time buyers. Additionally, the severe housing shortage is preventing many would-be buyers from even making an offer on a home.”
According to Yun, the Northeast and Midwest regions were the only two areas of the country to see an increase in pending sales last month.
The Northeast region saw a 1.3 percent increase to an index reading of 77.0 in July, while the Midwest region rose 0.7 percent to an index of 111.7.
In the South, pending sales fell 0.6 percent to an index reading of 125.7, while the West region saw a 1.1 percent decline to an index of 103.9.
“The South has been a bright spot for housing this year, but even in this region we’re starting to see affordability constraints emerge,” Yun said. “The good news is that job growth continues to be strong, which should keep demand for buying a home elevated. However, without more listings in the affordable price range, sales will likely struggle to break out and rise above last year’s pace.”
The post sales of Pending Home sales Remain Unchanged Month-over-Month appeared first on Real Estate news & Insights | realtor.com®.
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we've got some breaking economic news to
get into Julie Hyman take us through it
yeah we got pending home sales out for
the month of April not changed at all
the economy assessment was for a gain of
one percent month over month and instead
we are seeing no change in those pending
home sales the prior month March saw a
5.2 percent drop so it still represents
an improvement but not much of one and
worse than estimated one so we've got
our Danny Romero here with us on set who
was also analyzing the data and it looks
like we're really seeing a lot of
discrepancies between regions that cause
this overall number to not see any
change yeah so the results really show
that the selling the spring selling
season really didn't start with a bang
buyers are still having a really hard
time you know moving from those
Sidelines due to that limited inventory
that we're seeing in the resale Market
as well those higher mortgage rates but
if we break this down regionally uh in
pending home sales the Northeast took a
hit still is taking a hit I mean we've
been kind of to seeing that Trend move
along the South has sales activity
compared to 2001 levels that really
stood out to me in the data the Midwest
decreased about 22 percent in their
sales so those pandemic boom towns are
really cooling off and we're really
seeing that right now not really much
enticement there but also mortgage rates
if we if we were reflect back in April
mortgage rates were about they were
ranging between
6.27 to
6.43 so now they're sitting around 6.39
percent so affordability Still Remains a
concern Julie well I I want to ask you
you talked about the regions and uh some
of the sticking points we've seen there
inventory being an issue but in the
Northeast for instance I've you know
kind of look I look at Zillow every now
and then to see what's out there uh it
seems like pricing is still pretty
strong and it seems like it's continues
to be a seller's market that seemed to
be one of the sticking points that is in
the Northeast well for the Northeast I
would just say that from what I've been
hearing just anecdotally from uh just
the experts that I've spoken with is
that we're really seeing you know sure
we're seeing prices decline but they're
not going super down right I mean
they're still pretty elevated enough not
enough right not enough to really push
these buyers and we're seeing that in
the data right now right to really sign
that contract that's what pending home
sales really shows us it's a good gauge
a good indicator on the health of the
home buyer right and so
um I think the Northeast will be taking
some pressure but like we said those
pandemic boom towns are also taking some
of the heat too right they're not really
seeing that uh that surge that they
really saw during the pandemic so there
is some cooling off but of course it
goes back to that affordability and the
inventory issue that we're still dealing
with but public home builders are really
being enticed right now and coming up
with incentives to really bearing buyers
into that market yeah well we'll see
what it continues to show thanks Danny
appreciate it thank you
