Newsweek
Pending home sales in the Midwest soared in February, contributing to a rebound in the market for the month, data from the National Association of Realtors® showed.
The region saw pending sales of properties—a leading signal of sales that is measured by contract signings—increase by almost 11 percent, the data released on March 28 showed. This was a significant improvement from the previous month, when it saw a decline of 7.6 percent.
The other region that saw improvement was the South, with a 1.1 percent pending-sales increase in February. Other parts of the country saw declines—with the West seeing a 6.5 percent decrease, while sales in the Northeast went down by 0.3 percent. Overall, the country saw a 1.6 percent increase in pending sales, after it fell by almost 5 percent in January.
“While modest sales growth might not stir excitement, it shows slow and steady progress from the lows of late last year,” Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said in a statement. “Ongoing job gains are clearly increasing demand along with more inventory.”
Yun also commented on the affordability issues in the West and the Northeast.
“The high-cost regions in the Northeast and West experienced pullbacks due to affordability challenges,” Yun said. Home prices rising faster than income growth is not healthy and adds challenges for first-time buyers.” Affordability may improve, Yun said, as the supply of homes for sale increases.
There will be a steady rise in inventory from recent growth in home building,” he said in his statement. Additionally, many sellers, who delayed listing in the past two years, will begin to put their homes on the market to move to a different home that better fits their new life circumstances—such as changes in family composition, jobs, commuting patterns and retirees wanting to be closer to their grandkids.
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