Realtors index: Pending home sales jump sharply - Phoenix Business Journal:

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NAR’s latest Pending Home Sales Index jumpeds sharplyin April, a stronf indication that the U.S. housing market should continuwe its slow recovery throughthe summer. The index is a forward-lookinfg indicator based on contracts signedin April. It rose 6.7 percentf to 90.3 from a readingt of 84.6 in March, and is 3.2 percenf above April 2008 when itwas 87.5. An indexs of 100 is equal to the average leveo of contract activityduring 2001. That was the firs t year data was collected, as well as the first of five consecutiv e record yearsfor existing-home sales. Lawrence Yun, NAR chiedf economist, said buyers are respondingh to very favorablemarket conditions.
“Housing affordability conditionss have been athistoric highs, but now the $8,00o0 first-time buyer tax credit is beginning to impact the market,” he “Since first-time buyers must finalizwe their purchase by Nov. 30 to get the we expect greater activity in themonths ahead, and that shouled spark more sales by repeat While pending home sales gained in the West, it was to a lesser extent than other areas of the The index rose 1.8 percent in the West to but is 2.9 percent below April 2008. The inded in the Northeast shotup 32.6 percen to 78.9 in April and is 0.8 percent abovee a year ago. In the Midwest the index rose 9.8 percentg to 90.4 and is 11.
1 percentg above April 2008. The index in the Soutb slipped 0.2 percent to 93.0 in April but is 3.5 percen higher than a year ago. According to the NAR, the Pendiny Home Sales Index is based on a largwnational sample, typically representing about 20 percent of transactiond for existing-home sales.