Pending sales of U.S. homes rose by 0.7 percent in February, although the gain may have been held in check by bad weather, and by possible repercussions of the shakeout in subprime lending, the National Association of Realtors said.
The index is down 8.5 percent in the past year. Pending home sales fell by a revised 4.2 percent in January.
A home sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed but the transaction hasn’t closed. Such a sale is usually finalized within one or two months of signing.
By region, pending homes sales rose in the South and Midwest but fell in the Northeast and the West, NAR February data showed.
Sales rose by 4.5 percent in the South, and by 2.9 percent in the Midwest. In the Northeast, sales dipped 1.3 percent. Pending sales were off 6.0 percent in the West.
