A slew of housing data reports in the last week painted a hazy picture of the overall national market. But one clear message emerges from the fog: The West is showing some cracks.
Pending home sales increased for the second straight month in March nationwide. That followed a disappointing new-home sales report on Monday and a mixed report last week on existing-homes sales, which increased in March but failed to reverse a huge drop in February. Home values across the nation continued to rise, but the pace of increases moderated in February.
But industry insiders caution about reading too much into the recent unevenness. Chris Christopher, director of U.S. macro and global economics at IHS Global Insight, hasn’t changed his forecast for housing this year. And Jim Gaines, chief economist at the real estate center at Texas A&M University, noted that the year-over-year numbers remain positive.
Janna Herron | The Fiscal Times