In July, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Pending Home Sales Index rose to the highest level since June 2007. Not only was the number of homes pending sale up from June, the index was also 12 percent higher than the same month last year.
Pending home sales are a good indicator of the future pace of existing-home sales, since they reflect the number of contracts that were signed to purchase a home. Once under contract, most of these pending sales become actual sales within the next two to three months.
In fact, NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun expects existing-home sales to rise through the fourth quarter of this year due, in part, to the $8,000 first-time buyer tax credit and high housing affordability. He said, "The buyer psychology may be shifting from ‘Why buy now when I can purchase later?' to ‘I don't want to miss out on a recovery.'"
Please contact me if you would like more information about the current real estate market or visit my Basking Ridge website to sign up for listing alerts in and around Basking Ridge.
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