Pending Home Sales Surge 10.4%

Pending home sales rose a remarkable 10.4% in October with particular strength in the Northeast. The figures come a day after down beat data on home prices from S&P/Case Shiller, which covered the top 20 housing markets

The NAR said

The Pending Home Sales Index surged 10.4 percent to 93.3 in October from 84.5 in September and is 9.2 percent above October 2010 when it stood at 85.5. The data reflects contracts but not closings.

Sales in the Northeast were strong. They remained weak as might be expected in the West which includes hard hit real estate markets in California, Nevada, and Arizona.

The PHSI in the Northeast surged 17.7 percent to 71.3 in October and is 3.4 percent above October 2010. In the Midwest the index jumped 24.1 percent to 88.7 in October and remains 13.2 percent above a year ago. Pending home sales in the South rose 8.6 percent in October to an index of 99.5 and are 9.7 percent higher than October 2010. In the West the index slipped 0.3 percent to 105.5 in October but is 8.1 percent above a year ago.

There is some chance that the market has finally been stimluated by unusally low prices, which are back to 2003 levels in some cases, and mortgage rates which have recently been below 4%

Douglas A. McIntyre