Pending home sales for Dec

  • Pending home sales -0.3% vs -0.5% est. Last month -2.5% (was -2.6%)
  • YoY 22.8% vs 20.3% est. Last month 16.1%
  • Northeast +3.1% vs -3.3% last
  • Midwest -3.6% vs -3.1% last
  • SOuth 0.1% vs -0.9% last
  • West 0.0% vs -4.7% last

The data on a month on month basis is down for the 4th consecutive month (-2%, -0.9%, -2.5% and -0.3%) after rising by 44.3%, 15.8%, 5.9%, and 8.8% the prior 4 months. Of course March and April say sharp declines as the Covid virus started to spread. Nevertheless, the gains for the year are still sharply higher indicative of the strong housing market in the US.

About 80% of pending home sales will become existing home sales within 2 months.

US pending home sales