Pending home sales inched up 1.0% to a reading of 96.6 in December from a revised 16.4% decline to 95.6 in November, originally reported as a 16.0% drop to 96.0, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Thomson Reuters’ poll of economists had predicted a 97.1 reading.
Year-over-year the pending homes sales index was up 10.9% from last December, when the index was 87.1.
Regionally, pending sales were mostly higher. The Northeast saw a 2.3% increase to 76.1, while sales grew 5.2% to 86.9 in the Midwest. In the South sales gained 2.2% to 98.4, while in the West, pending sales dropped 3.8% to 119.9.
“There are easily understood swings in contract activity as buyers respond to a tax credit that was expiring and was then extended and expanded,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said.
“These swings are masking the underlying trend, which is a broad improvement over year-ago levels. December activity was the fifth highest monthly tally in two years,” he said.
