NAR: Pending Home Sales Index Rises 0.2% to 101.7 in November

Pending home sales grew 0.2% to an index reading of 101.7 in November, after a revised 1.2% decline to 101.5 in October, according to a report released Monday by the National Association of Realtors.

The October reading was initially reported as 0.6% drop to 102.1.

Economists polled by Thomson Reuters predicted that the index would be up 1.0%.

An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001.

Year-over-year the pending homes sales index is off 1.6% from last November, when the index was 103.3.

Regionally, pending sales were mixed. The Northeast saw a 2.7% drop to 82.6, while sales fell 3.1% in the Midwest to 100.6. In the South, sales gained 2.3% to 116.1, and sales climbed 1.8% to 95.0 in the West.

"We may have reached a cyclical low because the positive fundamentals of job creation and household formation are likely to foster a fairly stable level of contract activity in 2014," NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said. "Although the final months of 2013 are finishing on a soft note, the year as a whole will end with the best sales total in seven years."

While conditions still favor buyers in most regions, rising interest rates and price increases are expected in 2014, Yun said.

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