Percentage of Pending National Home sales numbers are up from February of last year!
A home sale is pending when the purchase contract has been signed but the transaction has not closed. Pending sales typically close within 1 to 3 months of signing.
A National Association of Realtors tracking index that reports pending sales of existing homes rose 2.2% from January to February, and 10.4% above the February 2004 level. The index is based on pending sales of existing homes, including single-family and condo.
A pending home sales index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, the first year reported. In February, the index stood at 123.2.
Regionally, the ‘Pending home sales index’ in the Midwest rose 6.7% to 121.1 in February and was 9.4% higher than last year. In the South, the index was of 127.6 increased 3.5% from January and was 10.5% higher than February 2004. The index in the Northeast improved by 2.4% in February to 108.4 and was 3% more than last year. In the west, the index dropped 4% to 129.9 in February, but was 16.8% more than February 2004.
The numbers are looking even better for March and April.
Pending home sales index is based on a large national sample, representing approximately 20% of transactions for existing home sales.
In developing the model for the index, it was demonstrated that the level of monthly sales-contract activity from 2001 to 2004 closely parallels the level of closed existing home sales in the following 2 months.
