PENDING HOME SALES UP JANUARY 2014?

No, pending home sales aren’t up. They are down slightly over last year, but prices still remain stable and we still have limited inventory. If you have been thinking about buying a home, or selling your current home and either up sizing or down sizing, now is the time. Interest rates are still at record lows, but they are rising a little at a time and are about 1% higher than last year. Once the goverment stops printing money, I would suspect the rates will jump back up to 6% which is where they were at the begining of the housing market crisis. Read on to get the details regarding pending home sale. Richard Kemper Remax

NAR: Pending home sales steady in Jan.
WASHINGTON – Feb. 28, 2014 – Pending home sales were essentially unchanged in January, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). Monthly gains in the South and Northeast were offset by declines in the West and Midwest.

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, edged up 0.1 percent to 95.0 in January from an upwardly revised 94.9 in December, but is 9.0 percent below January 2013 when it was 104.4.

“Ongoing disruptive weather patterns in much of the U.S. inhibited home shopping,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. “Limited inventory also is playing a role, especially in the West, while credit remains tight and affordability isn’t as favorable as it was a year ago.”

The December index reading was the lowest since November 2011, when it stood at 94.6.

The PHSI in the Northeast rose 2.3 percent to 79.0 in January – 5.3 percent below a year ago. In the Midwest, the index declined 2.5 percent to 92.9 in January – 9.3 percent lower than January 2013.

Pending home sales in the South increased 3.5 percent to an index of 111.2 in January – 5.5 percent below a year ago. The index in the West fell 4.8 percent in January to 84.2 – 17.5 percent below January 2013.

Existing-home sales are expected to be weak in the first quarter, but prices continue to rise from limited inventory.

“Increasing new home construction can quickly solve two problems, producing more inventory and taming price growth,” Yun says.

The pace of sales should pick up in the middle part of the year, according to NAR. Total existing-home sales are projected at just over 5.0 million in 2014, slightly below the volume recorded last year. The national median existing-home price is forecast to grow in the range of 5 to 6 percent this year.

© 2014 Florida Realtors®