From Bloomberg:
Pending Home Resales in U.S. Fall to Four-Year Low
An index of pending sales of existing homes in the U.S. unexpectedly fell to the lowest level in more than four years in April, a further sign the real-estate slump may linger.
The index of signed purchase agreements, or pending home resales, fell 3.2 percent to 101.4, the lowest since February 2003, after a revised 4.5 percent decline in March, the National Association of Realtors said today in Washington. The index was down 10.2 percent from April 2006.
Rising mortgage defaults are putting more houses back on the market and prompting banks to tighten lending standards, making home purchases less affordable. Federal Reserve policy makers are forecasting that the glut of unsold homes will probably prolong the housing slump, already the deepest in a decade and a half.
“We’ve still got a very big overhang of home inventory,” said Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist at Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts. “A housing recovery won’t happen this year.”
Economists had forecast pending home sales would rise 0.3 percent, from an originally reported 4.9 percent decline the prior month, according to the median of forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. Estimates ranged from a 1 percent decline to a 2.5 percent gain.
…
The Realtors group reported May 25 that sales of existing homes, which make up about 85 percent of residential sales, dropped 2.6 percent in April to the lowest level in almost four years.“Psychological factors seem to be holding buyers back as they look for clear signs that the market has bottomed,” said Lawrence Yun, senior economist for the Realtors. “That varies from one area to another.”
Today’s report showed pending resales declined 10.4 percent in the Northeast and 10.2 percent in the West. They increased 2.3 percent in the Midwest and 0.7 percent in the South.
Northeast takes a big tumble in April:
http://www.realtor.org/Research.nsf/files/PHS.pdf/$FILE/PHS.pdf
April pending home sales down 10.4% from last month and down 15.4% year over year.
jb
From Inman:
Pending real estate sales index hits 4-year low
A National Association of Realtors index that gauges pending home sales was 10.2 percent lower in April than in the same month last year, based on contracts signed. The index also fell 3.2 percent in April compared to the previous month.
The index is considered a leading indicator for the housing market because signed contracts typically lead to finalized sales within one or two months, and the index is based on a national sample that typically represents about 20 percent of existing-home sales.
An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, which was the first year to be examined as well as the first of five consecutive record years for existing-home sales.
…
The April index dropped 4.4 percent in the Midwest, 10.4 percent in the South, 11.7 percent in the West, and 15.4 percent in the Northeast compared to April 2006, the Realtor group reported.
fyi: PBS:=> Housing in the United States is taking a big hit …..
Housing in the United States is taking a big hit as “too-good-to-be-true” home loans fail, refinancing dries up, and foreclosures surge. How did the market plummet so quickly — and are current homeowners paying the price? NOW revisits a California town whose real estate fortunes have taken a hard turn for the worse.
Video:
Past Due and Pay Day
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/317/index.html
The real estate reality kicks in !!!
1 US Dollar = 1.06136 Canadian Dollar
1 Canadian Dollar (CAD) = 0.94219 US Dollar (USD)
Interbank rate +/- 0%
This means:
You buy 1 US Dollar : 1.06136 Canadian Dollar
You sell 1 US Dollar : 1.06036 Canadian Dollar
You buy 1 Canadian Dollar : 0.94219 US Dollar
You sell 1 Canadian Dollar : 0.94308 US Dollar