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Pending Home Sales Jump More Than Expected in January

  • February 27th 2012

by UrbanTurf Staff

Pending Home Sales Jump More Than Expected in January: Figure 1

The National Association of Realtors today announced that pending home sales across the country rose more than expected between December 2011 and January 2012. The pending sales index measures homes that have gone under contract but not yet closed and so can’t be considered sold.

Month over month, the index rose 2 percent, exceeding analyst expectations, and a nice bump after a 1.9 percent decrease between November and December 2011. Pending sales increased 8 percent between January 2011 and last month.

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun on the news:

“Given more favorable housing market conditions, the trend in contract activity implies we are on track for a more meaningful sales gain this year. With a sustained downtrend in unsold inventory, this would bring about a broad price stabilization or even modest national price growth, of course with local variations.”

While positive news, today’s numbers can really be considered “good” if these pending contracts are converted to closed sales.

See other articles related to: national association of realtors, pending home sales

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/pending_home_sales_jump_more_than_expected_in_january/5205.

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