Pending Home Sales are performing better in the Northeast than any other region nationwide
The housing market is experiencing one of its most successful spells that it ever has in history with the spring market and summer months in particular bringing realizing truly remarkable breakthroughs. With prices still on the rise, average lifespan of listings greatly decreased, and overall sales figures beating out year-over-year comparisons every month, this is quite a unique time to be involved in this business.
The National Association of Realtors just announced some interesting findings, that still show the entire industry to be thriving, but less so in certain regions. As it pertains to here in the Northeast, the market continues to succeed, yet the news is not as positive elsewhere in the United States. As the inventory levels remain low, interest rates have slowly climbed, the national Pending Home Sales Index has gone down to 107.7 over this past August. This, it was later discovered, was a 1.6% decrease from Julys number of 109.4. What this number looks at is a forward-thinking indicator of contract signings, showing that in some areas of the country, the market has slightly slowed.
However, the Northeast was the only region where the Pending Home Sales Index increased as evidenced by the 4% improvement to 84.8 in August. This also marked a 5.1% annual boost for the Northeast. Across the country, as referenced, the same optimism cannot be felt as the Midwest displayed a 1.4% decline to 111.6, which was still up 13.8% from August of 2012s number. The South also fell, this time by 3.5% to 116.9, up by 3.7% over August from last year. Finally, the West realized a 1.6% drop to 106.9, but was up by 1.7% over August of 2012. This annual increases are still something significant and are worth celebrating, and the fact that our Northeast alone is still showing growth and prosperity in the real estate industry is brilliant.
The nationwide statistic is still 5.8% above where it was in August of 2012 as well, and on a year-over-year basis, pending sales have increased by comparison for the past 28 consecutive months. Existing-home sales in 2013 are estimated by the National Association of Realtors to improve by 11% annually to roughly 5.2 million transactions. With regards to prices, existing-home values are predicted to rise by up to 12% this year and by another 6% in 2014.
Evidently, far more positive news concerning the real estate market is set to endure, as Lawrence Yun, the Chief Economist at the National Association of Realtors, came forth to conclude on these numbers by stating, Sharply rising mortgage interest rates in the spring motivated buyers to make purchase decisions, culminating in a six-and-a-half-year peak for sales that were finalized last month. Moving forward, we expect lower levels of existing-home sales, but tight inventory in many markets will continue to push up home prices in the months ahead.
More Information: Boston Business Journal
