Pending home sales dropped 4.4% in April, partially due to record-low inventory of homes for sale in the first quarter of 2021, the National Association of Realtors reports.
Compared with April 2020—when the pandemic pushed sales to all-time lows—pending home sales are up 57%.
“Contract signings are approaching pre-pandemic levels after the big surge due to the lack of sufficient supply of affordable homes,” stated Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “The upper-end market is still moving sharply as inventory is more plentiful there.”
Yun added that he anticipates the housing supply will improve by autumn.
Regionally, pending home sales fell 12.9% in the Northeast, 6.1% in the South and 2.6% in the West. Pending home sales in the Midwest increased 3.5%.
The full NAR report can be found here.
