The National
Association of Realtors (NAR) reported on Thursday its seasonally adjusted
pending home sales index (PHSI) fell by 6.3 per cent m-o-m to 71.3 in April, following a downwardly revised 5.5 per cent m-o-m soar (from +6.1 per cent
m-o-m) in March. This
was the steepest drop in pending home sales since April 2024 (-7.7 per cent
m-o-m).
Economists had expected
pending home sales to decrease by 0.9 per cent m-o-m in April.
On a y-o-y basis,
the index declined by 2.5 per cent after an unrevised 0.6 per cent drop in March. This marked the 5th consecutive y-o-y fall in pending home sales.
According to
the report, all
four U.S. regions - the West (-8.9 per cent m-o-m), South (-7.7 per cent
m-o-m), Midwest (-5.0 per cent m-o-m), and the Northeast (-0.6 per cent m-o-m) -
posted monthly declines in pending home sales operations.
In y-o-y terms,
the Midwest (+2.2 per cent) registered a gain in pending home sales, while the West
(-6.5 per cent), Northeast (-3.0 per cent) and South (-3.0 per cent) recorded drops.
Commenting on
the latest report, Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, noted that it is all
about mortgage rates at this critical stage of the housing market. “Despite an
increase in housing inventory, we are not seeing higher home sales,” he added. “Lower
mortgage rates are essential to bring home buyers back into the housing market.”