Jan 6: Pending Home Sales Index at Record Low
Pending Home Sales fell by 4% to a record low index value of 82.3 (since 2001 when the series began) in November. This follows a 0.7% decline in October. The index was 89.8 in October 2007, was as high as 101.4 in June of 2007, and decreased by 5.3% over the past year as the housing market has been converging to equilibrate itself. Current data does not reflect the impact of mortgage interest rates falling to 50 year lows in December.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said a weakening was inevitable. Mounting job losses and very weak consumer confidence deterred home buyers from signing contracts in November, he said. Decembers housing market activity could be comparably lower due to ongoing problems in the economy, so a real estate-focused stimulus plan is urgently needed.
Upcoming Releases
Initial Claims (01/08 at 8:30 AM EST)
Unemployment Rate (01/09 at 8:30 AM EST)
Wholesale Inventories (01/09 at 10:00 AM EST)
More Zacks Resources
More Zacks Links
| Market Summary | Feb 10, 2012 05:06 am ET |

Sponsored Links 
Loading Stories...

6.51
0.00