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Pending sales of existing U.S. homes surprisingly rose in February even as bad weather and weakness in the subprime lending sector put a crimp on the housing market, a real estate agents' trade association said Tuesday.
The National Association of Realtors said its Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in February, rose 0.7 percent to 109.3 from a downwardly revised level of 108.5 in January.
Wall Street analysts polled ahead of the realtor report were expecting the index to come in at 108.2.
Jon Basile, an economist with Credit Suisse of New York, said Monday's data "gives a feel that existing home sales has stabilized because they are higher than the lows of last year. At the very least, housing demand is not getting any worse."
Higher delinquencies among subprime borrowers with damaged credit will put downward pressure on home sales this year, said David Lereah, NAR's chief economist.
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