Pending home sales jump 6.7 percent - Houston Business Journal:

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Pending sales of existing or contracts signed butnot closed, rose 6.7 percengt in April, according to the . April's pending sales were up 3.2 percenr from a year ago, the NAR said. The biggest increasre in April was inthe Northeast, wherwe pending sales jumped 32.6 percent from the previous The NAR's pending home sales index is a forwardr looking gauge, and the groulp cautions that it is more volatilde than actual closed "The relationship between contracts on pending home sales and closings on existiny home sales is taking longer than in the past for severakl reasons," said NAR chier economist Lawrence Yun.
"Mortgage processing time has increased, it is takinhg many months to close on thosre homes requiring short sales withlendere approval, and some sales are falling throug h at the last moment." Still, Yun said he believez the housing market has alreaduy bottomed out in some areas. The group last week reported closed salesx of existing homesrose 2.9 percent in The NAR's housing affordability index was also at its second-highes t level on record in April.