For the second consecutive month, pending home sales scaled back as significantly weak supply levels of homes for sale<\/a> continue to press on affordability conditions, the National Association of REALTORS\u00ae reported Wednesday.<\/p>\n NAR\u2019s Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, fell 1.3 percent in April to a 109.9 reading. The index is now 3.3 percent below a year ago. All four major regions saw a decrease in contract signings last month, except for the West.<\/p>\n \u201cMuch of the country for the second straight month saw a pullback in pending sales as the rate of new listings<\/a> continues to lag the quicker pace of homes coming off the market,\u201d says Lawrence Yun, NAR\u2019s chief economist. \u201cREALTORS\u00ae are indicating that foot traffic is higher than a year ago, but it\u2019s obviously not translating to more sales. Prospective buyers are feeling the double whammy this spring of inventory that\u2019s down 9 percent from a year ago and price appreciation that\u2019s much faster than any rise they\u2019ve likely seen in their income.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Low inventory levels likely won\u2019t go away anytime soon either, Yun says. Homebuilding activity remains constrained and too few homeowners are listing<\/a> their homes for sale, Yun notes.<\/p>\n \u201cThe unloading of the single-family homes purchased by real estate<\/a> investors during the downturn for rental purposes would also go a long way in helping relieve these inventory shortages,\u201d Yun says. \u201cTo date, there are no indications investors are ready to sell. However, they should be mindful of the fact that rental demand will soften as the overall population of young adults starts to shrink in roughly five years.\u201d<\/p>\n Yun\u2019s housing<\/a> forecast calls for existing-home sales to be around 5.64 million this year, an uptick of 3.5 percent from 2016 (5.45 million). NAR forecasts that median existing-home prices will rise about 5 percent.<\/p>\n Source: National Association of REALTORS\u00ae<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [ad_2]![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/realtormag.realtor.org\/sites\/realtormag.realtor.org\/files\/rmo_files\/images\/2017_may\/April%20PHS%20Infographic.jpg\")
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