The housing market's rebound suffered a setback as pending home sales fell 16% in November, the National Association of Realtors reported today. It was the first decline after nine consecutive months of increases.
The association's pending home sales index was 96, compared with 114.3 in October. November's index was 15.5% higher than that of November 2008.
National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement that "it will be at least early spring before we see notable gains in sales activity as home buyers respond to the recently extended and expanded tax credit. The fact that pending home sales are comfortably above year-ago levels show the market has gained sufficient momentum on its own."
The index increased from October in the Northeast, Midwest, South and West by 25.7%, 25.7%, 15%, and 2.7%, respectively.
On a year-to-year basis, the index increased in all four regions. It rose in Northeast, Midwest, South and West by 14.7%, 9.2%, 14.7%, and 21.4%, respectively.
