Pending Home Sales Rise More Than Expected

Growth in the housing sector this year has been mostly soft though today's pending home sales report does hint at greater strength ahead. The pending home sales index, which tracks contract signing for existing home sales, rose a higher-than-expected 1.4 percent in the March report. Yet the year-on-year rate is showing very little improvement, also at plus 1.4 percent.

Pending home sales surged in the Midwest during February but slowed to only plus 0.2 percent in March. Strength in the latest report is centered in the Northeast and also the South, up 3.2 and 3.0 percent respectively. Year-on-year, the Northeast, which is the smallest region for housing sales, is up 18.4 percent with the Midwest up 4.0 percent.

Existing home sales did show life in March as indicated by this report's February data with today's data pointing to further improvement. Still, sales data show little momentum going into the Spring selling season.

Recent History Of This Indicator:
Existing home sales have been very soft but improving, as consistently indicated in advance by the pending home sales report. This report for March is expected to rise a solid 0.5 percent in what would be a second straight positive showing. Still, sales trends have been soft, reflecting no better than moderate price appreciation which has not been strong enough to attract new supply into the market.