Pending Home Sales Rise Nationwide: A Local Perspective
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported today that their Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) rose from February to March by 3.2%. This is positive news indicating that potentially, more sales will close in April, further reducing inventory and bringing the overall market to a healthier cycle. Full story here. The report attributes several factors including the near record high of the Housing Affordability Index – which compares the connections between housing prices, mortgage rates and family income – and the ability of first-time buyers (or someone who has not owned a home in the past 3 years) to receive an $8000 tax credit. Even better for our area, regionally, the South outperformed the nation with an increase of 8.5% on the PHSI.
A few weeks ago we reported on the reduction of inventories for closed sales and their impressive 39-month lows. Pending home sales tell a slightly different story and attempt to forecast the future by predicting what will happen if everything comes together as hoped. The following numbers are based off of Trendgraphix data for the Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte county markets and are on a different scale from the PHSI:
Sarasota County Pending Home Sales:
Mar 2009: 1089 (+25%)
Feb 2009: 866
Manatee County Pending Home Sales:
Mar 2009: 602 (+19%)
Feb 2009: 505
Charlotte County Pending Home Sales:
Mar 2009: 579 (+42%)
Feb 2009: 363
A few more months like these are exactly what homeowners and the housing industry needs to correct their course. Keep an eye out next week when we get and analyze our local real estate statistics for April.
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