After four months of consistent month-to-month growth, pending home sales fell by 2.2% in September, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. Nationally, contract signings have risen 20.5% year over year, and all four major U.S. regions have seen double-digit YOY increases—though only the Northeast has seen a rise in pending home sales month to month.
“The demand for home buying remains super strong, even with a slight monthly pullback in September, and we’re still likely to end the year with more homes sold overall in 2020 than in 2019,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “With persistent low mortgage rates and some degree of a continuing jobs recovery, more contract signings are expected in the near future.”
According to Realtor.com’s Housing Market Recovery Index, which measures housing market performance relative to January performance, the metro areas with the strongest housing market recoveries as of Oct. 10 include: Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.; Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Mass.-N.H.; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Calif.; Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nev.; and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.
The Northeast Pending Home Sales index rose 2% in September, up 27.7% from one year ago. In the Midwest, the index fell 3.2%, up 18.5% from one year ago. Pending sales in the South fell 3%, up 19.6% from one year ago, and sales in the West fell 2.6%, up 19.3% from September 2019.
“A second-order demand will steadily arise as homeowners who had not considered moving before the pandemic begin to enter the market,” Yun says. “A number of these owners are contemplating moving into larger homes in less densely populated areas in light of new-found work-from-home flexibility.”
