Economists' Outlook

Housing stats and analysis from NAR's research experts.

Pending Home Sales Hit the Lowest Level Since 2020 and Fall 3.9% in April 2022

NAR released a summary of pending home sales data showing that April's pending home sales pace decreased 3.9% last month and dropped 9.1% from a year ago.

Bar graph: Pending Home Sales, April 2021 to April 2022

Pending sales represent homes that have a signed contract to purchase on them but have yet to close. They tend to lead existing-home sales data by one to two months.

All four regions of the U.S. showed declines from a year ago. The Northeast had the largest dip of 14.3%, followed by the West with a drop in contract signings of 10.5%. The South fell 10.3%, followed by the Midwest with the smallest decline of 2.8%.

Bar graph: April U.S. and Regional Pending Sales in 2022 and 2021

From last month, three of the four regions showed fewer contract signings. The Midwest region had the only gain, at 6.6%. The Northeast region had the largest dip of 16.2%, followed by the South with a decrease of 4.7%. The West had the smallest decline of 4.3%.

The U.S. pending home sales index level for the month was 99.3.

April's contract signings bring the pending index below the 100-level mark for the first time since April 2020, when the index was 71.6.

Line graph: Pending Home Sales Index, January 2019 to April 2022

The 100 level is based on a 2001 benchmark and is consistent with existing-home sales above the 5 million mark.

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