Pending Home Sales Hit New Low

NEW YORK — An industry group said Wednesday that pending U.S. home sales dropped to a new low in March, signaling the housing slump has yet to bottom out even as the spring sell season gets under way.

The National Association of Realtors' seasonally adjusted index of pending sales for existing homes fell to 83.0 from a downwardly revised February reading of 83.8, the index's previous low. The index stood at 103.9 in March 2007.

Wall Street economists polled by Thomson/IFR had predicted the index would slip to a reading of 83.8.

A reading of 100 is equal to the average level of sales activity in 2001, when the index started.

Falling home prices and a tight credit environment have pummeled the housing market and sent potential buyers to the sidelines to wait out the slump. So far, there's been no evidence that the traditionally strong spring selling season is jump-starting any sales activity.

However, the trade group predicts existing home sales activity and the economy will pick up in the second half of the year as larger home loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration become more widely available. The FHA recently raised the mortgage limits for loans it guarantees.

"Things are beginning to improve, but the availability of affordable mortgages is uneven around the country and sometimes within metropolitan areas," said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.

NAR expects the median price of an existing home to decline 2.4 percent this year to $213,700.

Comments

[fact finder]

The housing market is still in a slump.? B DUH Sagging economy = no or few sales. Any one but an idiot knows that.

[HouseOfRoberts]

Bush is threatening to veto the House homeowner loan bill, and the DJ is down 200+ today. If people can stay in their homes and pay their mortgages, doesn't that protect the value of their neighbors' homes as well? I get the feeling the Bushbots WANT the homes to bottom out so their wealthy friends can buy them all up so cheap, then rent them back to the same income group that formerly owned them. That is what Bush really meant when he gave speeches about the "Ownership Society".

[fact finder]

HouseOfRoberts; Excellent deduction..But that is not the end of the chapter let alone the book. Place the elimination of the Unions, loss of jobs(out sourcing) and the high cost of food in the equation, not to mention many more factors that have occurred over the last 40 years and the complete the equation .

[JScott]

Driving around Bel Air recently (one of the most ritzy areas of LA) I dare say I saw more than one untidy
(read unoccupied or unfinisted remodel) residence there, must be really bad if those folks can't handle their subprime mortgage. Last time I noticed that the condos there were going for only for the 180's and that was right after the Northridge earthquake when they were unsound enough to go sliding down the hill (red tagged).