Pending Home Sales Index and Existing-home Sales

Pending Home Sales Index and Existing-home Sales
The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), based on contracts signed in June, rose 5.3 percent to 89.0 from a downwardly revised reading of 84.5 in May, but remains 12.3 percent below June 2007 when it stood at 101.4. The PHSI jumped 9.3 percent to 92.4 in the South; rose 4.6 percent to 101.0 in the West; increased 3.4 percent to 79.6 in the Northeast and rose 1.3 percent in June to 79.6 in the Midwest. Lawrence Yu, NAR chief economist, said, "This is welcome news because a rise in contract activity is necessary for an overall housing recovery. With a tax credit now available to first-time home buyers, increases in home sales could be sustained with the momentum carrying into 2009.”

Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – increased 3.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.00 million units in July from a downwardly revised level of 4.85 million in June, but are 13.2 percent lower than the 5.76 million-unit pace in July 2007.