Pending home sales fell 0.3% in December, the fourth consecutive month of decline following an “unseasonal surge” in August, the National Association of Realtors reports. Compared with December 2019, pending home sales increased 21.4%, with each region reporting double-digit growth year-over-year.
“Pending home sales contracts have dipped during recent months, but I would attribute that to having too few homes for sale,” stated Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “There is a high demand for housing and a great number of would-be buyers, and therefore sales should rise with more new listings.”
Regionally, pending home sales rose 3.1% in the Northeast (22.1% year-over-year), 0.1% in the South (26.6% year-over-year) and fell 3.6% in the Midwest (up 13.9% year-over-year). The West remained unchanged in December, an 18.9% increase year-over-year.
The full NAR report can be found here.
