By Jann Sawnson | Mortgage News Daily
The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) just issued the first positive pending home sales report in months. Pending sales, a leading indicator for existing home sales, rose slightly in a month which saw declining sales of existing homes and a fairly devastating report on sales of newly constructed ones.
NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index, a measure of newly signed contracts for existing home purchases, rose 0.5 percent to 104.6 in September from 104.1 in August, driven by increases in both the West and Midwest. The Index has now increased in only two of the last six reports.
While the September uptick was hopeful for upcoming sales numbers, pending sales are generally expected to turn into closed transactions within the next two months, the PHSI is down 1.0 percent September 2017, the ninth straight month of annual declines.
