The inventory of single-family properties that are under contract eased last month, with pending home sales in the Northeast and West leading the weakening.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Pending Home Sales Index was 111.4 as of March 2017. The index is an indication of upcoming sales based on contract signings.
Pending home sales eased from the preceding month by less than a percent. Compared to the same month last year, however, the index inched up less than a percent.
The index was announced Thursday by the National Association of Realtors.
“Home shoppers are coming out in droves this spring and competing with each other for the meager amount of listings in the affordable price range,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a written statement. “In most areas, the lower the price of a home for sale, the more competition there is for it.
In the West, pending home sales declined 2.9 percent from February, leaving the index there at 94.5.
Similarly, the index was down 2.9 percent in the Northeast to 99.1. A more than 1 percent decline was recorded for the Midwest, with that index at 109.6.
At 129.4, only the index in the South was up from a month earlier: 1 percent.
