Pending Home Sales, which are signed contracts on existing homes, rose 2.2% from October to November per the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). The index reached its highest level since February 2023 as sales were also 6.9% higher than they were a year earlier.
What’s the bottom line?
NAR’s Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun, noted that “consumers appeared to have recalibrated expectations regarding mortgage rates and are taking advantage of more available inventory.”
Yun added that, “Mortgage rates have averaged above 6% for the past 24 months. Buyers are no longer waiting for or expecting mortgage rates to fall substantially. Furthermore, buyers are in a better position to negotiate as the market shifts away from a seller’s market.”