Pending Home Sales

The National Association of Realtors® reported today that after reaching a 19-month high, pending home sales eased in December.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the trend line remains positive. “Even with a modest decline, the preceding two months of contract activity are the highest in the past four years outside of the homebuyer tax credit period,” he said. “Contract failures remain an issue, reported by one-third of Realtors® over the past few months, but home buyers are not giving up.”

But, for those of us living in the West, the pending home sales for our region took the largest percentage drop of the regions tracked. The Northeast declined 3.1 percent to 74.7 in December and is 0.8 percent below a year ago. In the Midwest the index rose 4.0 percent to 95.3 and is 13.3 percent higher than December 2010. Pending home sales in the South slipped 2.6 percent to an index of 101.1 in December but are 4.9 percent above a year ago. In the West the index fell 11.0 percent in December to 107.9 but is 3.7 percent higher than December 2010.

As I stated in my San Diego 2012 real estate forecast, today’s news on Pending Home Sales is a  further indication that there will be no snap-back in San Diego home values this year.