EHS

4.72 million

Existing-home Sales

Seasonally adjusted annual rate, which is the actual rate of sales for the month, multiplied by 12 and adjusted for seasonal sales differences.

PHSI

82.1

Pending Home Sales Index

The Pending Home Sales Index measures housing contract activity. An index of 100 is equal to the level of activity during 2001, the benchmark year.

Source: NAR Research

JUST IN TIME FOR SPRING

The pace of existing-home sales increased 5.1 percent in February to 4.72 million units, recouping almost all of the losses it had incurred the previous month. The gains look likely to hold for a while because NAR’s forward-looking Pending Home Sales Index also is up. The index showed a 2.1 percent gain in February to a level of 82.1. The upward movement gives reason to hope the industry could see a solid spring selling season.

A BOOST IN CONFIDENCE

Practitioners’ expectations for sales activity over the next six months, which have trending up since December, continued their upward path in March. Both buyer traffic and seller traffic are expected to grow. Confidence is at its highest level since June 2008.

Results are based on 3,327 responses to 6,000 surveys sent to large and small real estate offices. The survey asks practitioners to indicate whether conditions are strong (100 points), moderate (50), or weak (0). Responses are averaged to derive results.