WASHINGTON — Signed sales contracts on existing homes in the
United States rose for the ninth straight month in October, a real estate
industry group reported Tuesday.
The pending home sales index rose a seasonally adjusted 3.7
percent in October from September, the National Association of Realtors
reported. The index is up 31.8 percent compared with last October.
The index rose 6 percent in September.
The index tracks sales contracts on pre-owned homes.
Typically, it takes a month or two after the contract is signed for the sale to
close. At that point, the sale is booked in the NAR’s existing-home sales
report.
The pending-home sales index has been running ahead of the
existing-home sales figures, likely because tight credit conditions and tougher
rules on appraisals are killing some deals before they close. Compared with a
year ago, existing-home sales are up 23 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual
rate of 6.1 million.
The federal government’s first-time home-buyer tax credit
could have led to more deals in October. The tax credit has now been extended,
but buyers in October thought it would expire on Nov. 30.
Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the real estate
advocacy and lobbying group, said the increase in pending home sales wasn’t
entirely due to the tax credit. “Based on the demographics of our growing
population, existing-home sales should be in the range of 5.5 million to 6.0
million annually,” he said.
For 2010, the real estate agents expect sales of existing
homes to rise 10.8 percent to 5.7 million compared with 5.15 million in 2009.
New-home sales are projected to rise 42 percent in 2010 to 561,000 from 394,000
in 2009. Home prices are expected to rise about 4 percent, according to Yun’s
forecast.
Via McClatchy-Tribune News Service.
