Pending Sales Take Fourth Monthly Hit

Pending Sales Take Fourth Monthly Hit

Friday’s pending home sales report was the hat trick; all three home sales measures declined last month . While new and existing home sales have had their ups and downs in recent months, February was the fourth consecutive month that the National Association of Realtors’® (NAR’s) Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) has lost ground. The Index, based on purchase contracts for existing single-family houses, townhomes, condos, and cooperative apartments, declined from 109.4 in January to 104.9, a -4.1 percent change. It is now 5.4 percent lower than in February 2021. [pendinghomesdata] Analysts had expected a rebound after what Econoday called “three straight sharp and unexpected declines” that have taken the index down from last October’s 125.2 reading. The consensus of analysts polled b