“We will look at the data in the coming months to determine whether the signing of soft contracts was a one-month anomaly or the start of an underlying trend,” Yun said.
HousingWire Lead analyst Logan Mohtashami also said he wouldn’t read too much into this upcoming home sales report.
“Any time the existing home sales report is at an annual high in December, there is a good chance that open data will be hit due to the last two weeks of the year and the first week due to the holidays,” Mohtashami said. “Our weekly tracker data has shown growth in January, which takes approximately 30 to 60 days to appear in the sales report, and purchasing apps are off to their best start in years.”
All four regions of the US reported monthly declines, with the Midwest declining 14.9% for a PHSI value of 67.0, the West (55.3) declining 13.3%, the Northeast (60.9) declining 11% and the South (91.0) declining 4%.
Looking ahead, data from NAR’s Realtors’ Confidence Index shows that 31% of NAR members expect an increase in buyer traffic over the next three months, up from 22% in November and 27% in December 2024. On the other side of the transaction, 28% of members expect an increase in seller traffic, compared to 18% a month ago and 27% a year ago.
“Lower mortgage rates will help improve affordability in the coming year, but economic uncertainty is holding some potential buyers back,” said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Clear MLSsaid a statement.
“Buyers looking to enter the market this year will generally find more inventory and greater opportunities to negotiate price and concessions. Sellers looking for a quick sale will need to price appropriately to entice economically anxious buyers.”
NAR’s data also showed that the average number of days on market in December increased three days from a month earlier and four days from a year ago, to 39 days. Additionally, the Realtors’ Confidence Index survey found that 29% of sales came from first-time buyers, compared to 30% a month ago and 31% in December 2024.
It is therefore no surprise that the share of cash transactions increased to 28%, compared to 27% a month earlier. The report also noted that 18% of transactions were for individual investors or second home buyers, the same as a month ago but up from 16% a year earlier. The share of distressed sales remained unchanged at 2%.
“For now, we remain cautiously optimistic that the recent rate cut and cooling price growth will support a more constructive year for homebuyers – driven more by ‘life happening’ events such as job changes, marriages and growing families than by further declines in mortgage rates,” said Sam Williamson, senior economist at First Americansaid a statement.
#Pending #home #sales #fell #sharply #December