Quick Take: Pending Home Sales

January 6, 2009

By Lawrence Yun, NAR Chief Economist

The lowest figures since the inception of the series in 2001. Read more here (link)

The Institute of Supply Management's index of activity in the non-manufacturing sector improved a bit in December. The latest reading of 40.6 is better than the awful 37.3 in the prior month. Still the index is below 50, which implies continuing contraction in service-related business activity.
The employment component of the index was 34.7, which means jobs were cut sharply in December.

Housing is down and needs a stimulus jolt to help out not only the 75 million homeowners to regain confidence, but also to help revive the economy.
Exercise your right in the democratic process by pressuring your member of Congress to get focused on the right issues. It is understandable that many are fatigued and angry about the bailout of financial firms and Detroit automakers. However, the housing stimulus is a direct main street issue providing millions of qualifying home buyers with the means to become property owners and for millions of existing homeowners to refinance into lower mortgage rates and to recover housing equity. The economy simply cannot recover without home price stabilization.
The service sector is larger than the manufacturing sector. The manufacturing sector is in the tanks, but the service area showed a modest improvement, if you can call it that, of contracting at a slower pace than before.

This is one in a series of commentaries by the Research staff of the National Association of REALTORS®. Read more commentaries >

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