Prior to the release of the NAR’s Pending Home Sales Report this morning, Yahoo Finance said optimistically:
A real estate trade group will release data Friday that is expected to show a slight increase in pending sales of existing homes for April.
If the data from the National Association of Realtors reveals what analysts predict, it could be an indication that sellers have lowered prices enough to cause a pickup in sales. Analysts expect, on average, a month-to-month gain of 0.4 percent for April, according to Briefing.com.
The reality was a little gloomier when the numbers came out:
An index of pending sales of existing homes in the U.S. unexpectedly fell to the lowest level in more than four years in April, a further sign the real-estate slump may linger.
The index of signed purchase agreements, or pending home resales, fell 3.2 percent to 101.4 [MOM], the lowest since February 2003, after a revised 4.5 percent decline in March [MOM], the National Association of Realtors said today in Washington. The index was down 10.2 percent from April 2006.
Lawrence Yun, NAR Senior Economist is filling in for the departing David Lereah as Chief Cheerleader for this report:
It looks like we may be leaving a period of market disruptions, and for the past two months the pending home sales index has been similar in year-ago comparisons, which means home sales might ease but should be fairly stable in the months ahead.
Here’s the fairly stable graph:
As for Yun’s similar year-ago comparisons, April’s numbers were down 10.2%, when March’s numbers were down 10.0%". I would define that trend as continues to tank rather than fairly stable.
