Weather-assisted improvement in the Northeast overcame weakening in other regions to lift pending U.S. home sales just above November’s level.
For the month of December, the Pending Home Sales Index, a prospective indicator based on contract signings, was calculated to be 106.8.
The index was up minimally from the prior month, when it came in at 106.7. November’s number was revised down from
106.9 originally reported.
Providing the index was the National Association of Realtors.
But pending home sales have
swelled versus the final month of 2014, when the index was 102.5.
It was the 16th consecutive year-over-year improvement.
The biggest increase from November was in the Northeast, where the index climbed six percent to 97.8.
“Warmer than average weather and more favorable inventory conditions compared to other parts of the country encouraged more households in the Northeast to make the decision to buy last month,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun explained in the report.
An 0.5 decline put the index at 119.3 in the South as of December.
In the Midwest, the index fell one percent to 103.6 at the end of last year.
The biggest month-over-month drop was in the West,
where pending home sales slowed two percent. The index for the region closed out 2015 at 97.5.
