Is This What a Housing Bottom Looks Like?
Another housing report shows that market activity is up considerably from one year ago but easing off of the levels set by a surge of transactions earlier this year.
A report Thursday by the National Association of Realtors showed the index of pending home sales, reflecting deals that have gone into contract but haven’t yet closed, fell in June by 1.4% from May, though activity was still above the level of one year ago by 9.5%.
The report is the latest indication of an uneven housing bottom — things aren’t getting better rapidly, but we’re also not in the “hold-your-hat” declines of 2010 or the “spring that never materialized” of 2011. The report is also a reminder that a recovery will have trouble taking hold without meaningful job and wage growth, which has slowed in recent months.
June’s reading is slightly below the level set in both March and May of this year. But it is better than any reading in 2011 and better than all but two months in 2010, when federal tax credits spurred a burst of sales activity. It was the highest level for the month of June since 2007. Read more
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