Econoday Economic Report: Pending Home Sales Index January 25, 2012

2012 Economic Calendar

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Pending Home Sales Index

Released On 1/25/2012 10:00:00 AM For Dec, 2011

	Prior	Consensus	Consensus Range	Actual
Pending Home Sales Index - Level	100.1			96.6
Pending Home Sales Index - M/M	7.3 %	-1.0 %	-4.8 % to 7.0 %	-3.5 %

Highlights
Contract signings eased in December after moving sharply higher in the prior two months. Pending home sales fell 3.5 percent in the month following a 7.3 percent gain in November and a 10.4 percent surge in October. Year-on-year, pending home sales are up 5.6 percent and are only three tenths slower than November. The trend in this series, despite December's dip, points to continuing improvement in existing home sales.

Market Consensus before announcement
The pending home sales index rose a very strong 7.3 percent in November on top of October's 10.4 percent gain. Regionally, November's gains were led by the West and include the Northeast and Midwest with the South showing no change. November and October taken together show solid gains for all regions. The index was at its highest level since April 2010. For this week's release, the forecast panel range is rather wide, suggesting that the median is not a strong number.

Definition
The National Association of Realtors developed the pending home sales index as a leading indicator of housing activity. As such, it is a leading indicator of existing home sales, not new home sales. A pending sale is one in which a contract was signed, but not yet closed. It usually takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale. Why Investors Care

2012 Release Schedule

Released On: 1/25 2/27 3/26 4/26 5/30 6/27 7/26 8/29 9/27 10/25 11/29 12/28

Release For: Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov