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Pending Home Sales

-4.9%

Latest News

Pending home sales fell in December, taking a step back after increasing slightly in November, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Each of the four major regions reported a drop in month-over-month contract activity, with the South experiencing the steepest fall. However, year-over-year pending home sales activity was up nationally compared to one year ago.

Read the full news release.

Next release: Pending Home Sales for January 2020 will be released on Monday, February 27, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHS), a leading indicator of housing activity, measures housing contract activity, and is based on signed real estate contracts for existing single-family homes, condos, and co-ops. Because a home goes under contract a month or two before it is sold, the Pending Home Sales Index generally leads Existing-Home Sales by a month or two.

Pending Home Sales for January 2020 will be released on Monday, February 27, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

The NAR Public Affairs Office issues a news release on or near the 25th of each month with the latest existing-home sales figures. The releases include analysis and quotes by NAR's Chief Economist Lawrence Yun regarding the sales volume, prices, inventory and interest rates.

NAR Research Data Release Dates

Pending Home Sales data are provided by NAR solely for use as a reference. No part of the data may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or redistributed in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without NAR's prior written consent for those who are not members of NAR.

Members of the media who need copies of previous months' pending home sales news releases can contact the NAR media communications team at 202-383-7515.

Data

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Monthly Index

The monthly index covers the past 12 months for the nation and four regions. The data includes seasonally adjusted as well as not seasonally adjusted figures.

PHS Overview (PDF: 24 KB)

Quarterly Forecast

Quarterly U.S. Economic Outlook Forecast (PDF: 174 KB)

Historical Information

Historical data can be purchased in the REALTOR® Store. If you are not a member of NAR and are interested in purchasing historical data, please contact Caroline Van Hollen at cvanhollen@realtors.org.

Questions?

If you have questions about this data, please email them to data@realtors.org. 

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December 2019 Home Sales

Video
NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun talks about December 2019 home sales and the economic year in review.
February 5, 2020