Pending residential Atlanta homes sales rose strongly in May with all the Metro counties experiencing improvement from 2010. And remember that in 2010 there was a Tax incentive program going on so this is a good sign. Not only Atlanta homes for sale but Residential home sales in the United States also improved in May with all regions experiencing gains pointing to higher housing activity in the second half of the year, according to the latest report from the National Association of Realtors.
This is the first time since April 2010 that contract activity was above year-ago levels, and the monthly gain was the strongest increase since last November when the index rose 10.6%.
Improved home sales have trended up unevenly since bottoming last June, rising in seven of the past 11 months. But it is lack of lending that is holding sales back, according to Yun. ‘Home sales still could be 15 to 20% if banks would simply return to normal sound underwriting standards and begin lending to more creditworthy borrowers and we’d get a much faster recovery in the housing sector,’ he said.
The Pending Home Sales Index, is that forward looking indicator based on contract signings, increased 8.2% to 88.8 in May from an upwardly revised 82.1 in April and is 13.4% higher than the 78.3 reading in May 2010. The data reflects contracts but not closings, which normally occur with a lag time of one or two months.
NAR chief economist, said the improvement bodes well for home prices. ‘Absorption of inventory is the key to price improvement, and this solid gain in contract signings implies that home values in many localities are or will soon be stabilizing as inventories get absorbed at a faster pace,’ he explained.
‘Some markets have made a rapid turnaround, going from soft activity to contract signings rising by more than 30% from a year ago, including areas such as Hartford, Connecticut, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Houston and Seattle are improving their home sales.
