U.S. Pending Home Sales Rebound More Than Expected In September
October 27 2016 - 5:29AM
RTTF2
Pending home sales in the U.S. saw a significant rebound in the
month of September, according to a report released by the National
Association of Realtors on Thursday.
NAR said its pending home sales index jumped by 1.5 percent to
110.0 in September after tumbling by 2.5 percent to a revised 108.4
in August. Economists had expected pending sales to climb by 1.0
percent.
A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but
not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a
contracted sale.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said, "Buyer demand is
holding up impressively well this fall with Realtors reporting much
stronger foot traffic compared to a year ago."
"Although depressed inventory levels are keeping home prices
elevated in most of the country, steady job gains and growing
evidence that wages are finally starting to tick up are encouraging
more households to consider buying a home," he added.
The bigger than expected rebound in pending home sales reflected
a 4.7 percent jump in the West as well as a 1.9 percent increase in
the South.
On the other hand, the report said pending home sales in the
Northeast fell by 1.6 percent. Pending sales in the Midwest also
edged down by 0.2 percent.
NAR released a separate report last week showing that existing
home sales rebounded by much more than anticipated in the month of
September.
The report said existing home sales jumped by 3.2 percent to an
annual rate of 5.47 million in September after falling by 1.5
percent to a downwardly revised rate of 5.30 million in August.
Economists had expected existing home sales to inch up by 0.4
percent to a rate of 5.35 million from the 5.33 million originally
reported for the previous month.
With the monthly rebound, existing home sales are at their
highest pace since June and are up by 0.6 percent compared to the
same month a year ago.
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