Pending Sales Indicate Market is Balancing

Pending home sales are showing signs of leveling out, indicating that the housing market is entering a period of stabilization, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR).

The index is based on pending sales of existing homes. A sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed and the transaction has not closed, but the sale usually is finalized within one or two months of signing.

David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist, said most of the cooling in the housing market has already occurred. "We can expect a historically strong housing market moving forward, earmarked by generally balanced conditions across the country and fairly stable levels of home sales with some month-to-month fluctuations," he said. "This normalization is healthy because it is taking a lot of the pressure off of the decision process for both home buyers and sellers -- pressure that was driving abnormal rates of price growth across much of the country over the last few years."

Here in Bradenton, Florida our pending sales are UP for the first time in several months. We are seeing more buyer activity and expect the Spring season to usher in higher sales.