Pending Home Sales April 5, 2010

The National Association of REALTORS® released its pending home sales report today.

Pending home sales rose in February, potentially signaling a second surge of home sales in response to the home buyer tax credit, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in February, rose 8.2 percent to 97.6 from a downwardly revised 90.2 in January, and remains 17.3 percent above February 2009 when it was 83.2. The data reflects contracts and not closings, which usually occur with a lag time of one or two months. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says the improvement is another hopeful sign. “The rise in buyer contact activity may signal the early stages of a second surge of home sales this spring. The healthy gain hints home prices are continuing to flatten,” he says. “We need a second surge to meaningfully draw down inventory and definitively stabilize home values.” Pending home sales by region:

• Northeast: the index rose 9.0 percent to 77.7 in February and is 18.9 percent higher than February 2009.
• Midwest: jumped 21.8 percent to 97.9 and is 18.7 percent above a year ago.
• South: increased 9.2 percent to an index of 107.0, and the index is 17.5 percent higher than February 2009.
• West: the index fell 4.8 percent to 98.0 but is 14.6 percent above a year ago.

Nationally, the numbers jibe with what we are seeing in our pending home sales report here in Tallahassee.

Tallahassee Real Estate Recommendations

Do you want to know more about the Tallahassee real estate market? It is not as hard as you might think keeping up with the movements in the housing market, you just have to know where to look. The following are some of the best resources that you can find on Tallahassee real estate:

• Building A Better Real Estate Web Site: Best Real Estate Web Site
• Daily Real Estate Blog (A Technorati Top 100): Tallahassee Real Estate Blog
• Tallahassee Neighborhood Report: Tallahassee Subdivisions
• Current Housing Reports: Housing Market Reports
• Map Based Property Search Tool: MLS Property Search
• Foreclosure Reports: Lis Pendens and Foreclosures
• List of Distressed Properties in the MLS: Distressed Properties
• REALTOR® news and updates: Successful REALTORS®

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