After two straight months of declines, pending home sales bounced back to beat projections in August.
Pending Home Sales jumped +8.1% in August
All four regions of the country posted monthly gains in pending home sales during the month of August, according to the National Association of REALTORS• (NAR) Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI).
The PHSI bounced up to 119.5 in August, an increase of +8.1% from July and up 6.3% from June though still off -8.3% year-over-year.
READ: 2022 Top Agent Success Secrets [Revealed]: New FREE Real Estate Coaching Web Event, Revealing 17 Surprising Secrets Of The Top 100 $ Millionaire Agents. Get Your FREE Spot For The 2022 Real Estate Coaching Webinar Now. After You Have Attended This Event You Will Have A Huge Feeling Of Relief Knowing You Will FINALLY Laugh At Your Money Worries – You Will Have Your Own Personalized 2022 Step-By-Step Business Plan. Learn Now How To Generate 100’s of Motivated Leads for FREE, Without Coming Off As A Pushy Salesperson and Losing Your Soul. You Will Soon Know How To Become One of the 1000s of Agents Making HUGE Money Who Never Thought They Could. YES, I Want To Attend The FREE Webinar! <——Click To Register
P.S. Free Webinar, Limited Space. Less Than 300 Spots Still Available.
Affordability More of a Challenge Due to Home Price Growth
This bump in pending home sales came to light at the same time that the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller released its report on July’s home price growth going through the roof, +19.7%, to growth levels not seen since 1987. Such flying-high prices make affordability a huge challenge for many otherwise potential buyers.
Lawrence Yun, NAR’s Chief Economist, said, “Affordability…remains challenging as home price gains are roughly three times growth.”
Realtor.com’s manager of economic research George Ratiu said, “Buyers ran into headwinds, as a 10-basis point increase in average mortgage rates combined with double-digit price gains to blunt affordability.”
Southern and Midwestern Regions Saw Strongest Gains in Pending Home Sales in August
NAR’s Yun pointed out that the country’s more affordable regional markets, the South and the Midwest, saw the strongest gains in pending home sales in the midst of almost startling home price gains across the country.
Yun said, “The more moderately priced regions of the South and the Midwest are experiencing stronger signing of contracts to buy, which is not surprising. This can be attributed to some employees who have the flexibility to work from anywhere, as they choose to reside in more affordable places.”
PHSI Gains by Region
- Midwest – +10.4% in August 2021
- -5.9% from August 2020
- South – +8.6% in August 2021
- -6.3% from August 2020
- West – +7.2% in August 2021
- -9.2% from August 2020
- Northeast +4.6% in August 2021
- – -15.8% from August 2020
Thanks to the National Association of REALTORS®.
