PENDING HOME SALES INDEX SHOWS MODEST UPTREND

Home sales will remain strong in the months ahead, according to NAR's Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), a new leading indicator for the housing market. Based on the number of transactions that have signed contracts but are not yet closed, the PHSI gauges home sales activity for upcoming months, as sales typically close within one or two months of contract signing.In February, the PHSI stood at 123.2, a 10.4 percent increase over the PHSI one year earlier. An index of 100 is equivalent to the average level of contract activity in 2001, the first of four consecutive years of record home sales, and therefore coincides with a historically high level of home sales activity.Regionally, the PHSI was highest in the West, where it increased 16.8 percent from one year earlier to 129.9. In the South, the PHSI increased 10.5 percent to 127.6. The Midwest and Northeast regions also experienced annual increases, reaching 121.1 and 108.4, respectively.