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Pending Home Sales at Highest Level Since August 2013

  • February 27th 2015

by Lark Turner

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Pending Home Sales at Highest Level Since August 2013: Figure 1
A DC home that went under contract in January.

Pending home sales in January reached their highest level since August 2013, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). High buyer demand brought the number of pending sales up to an 18-month high, said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist.

“Contract activity is convincingly up compared to a year ago despite comparable inventory levels,” he said in a news release. “The difference this year is the positive factors supporting stronger sales, such as slightly improving credit conditions, more jobs and slower price growth.”

Low inventory, which is affecting the DC area, is an issue in many of the nation’s markets, according to the NAR. But pending home sales are still up in every major region except for the midwest. Pending sales rose the most in the south, where they are up 9.7 percent over last January.

The association predicts that home sales in 2015 will be around 5.26 million, up 6.4 percent from last year. It also expects home prices to rise about 5 percent. Last year home sales declined 2.9 percent as prices rose 5.7 percent.

See other articles related to: national association of realtors, pending home sales

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.production.logicbrush.com/articles/blog/pending_home_sales_at_highest_level_since_august_2013/9583.

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