October Pending Home Sales Numbers Stronger Than Expected

From CNNMoney.com - "October pending home sales slip 1%":

Despite a meltdown in financial markets, a credit freeze and soaring unemployment, housing markets fared better than expected in October.

Pending home sales fell just 1% year over year according to a report out today from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), and were down 0.7% from September. Analysts surveyed by Briefing.com had expected pending sales to slip by 3.6% year over year, and by 3% from September.

Different regions, drastically different numbers.

NAR found that sales in the West climbed 17.4% in October, compared with a year ago. Northeast sales plunged 14.1% year-over-year; Midwest sales dropped 6.8%; and sales in the South inched down 2.9%.

Real Estate is local! Values in many western regions have fallen so far it seems like some stabilization is trying to occur when you look year over year. No surprise as we should be getting to that point in areas like California. The problem remains the underlying economic conditions which will continue to slow down and negatively impact the stabilization process.

Pending Home Sales Report - September 2008

As reported by Bloomberg - "Pending Sales of Existing Homes in U.S. Fell 4.6%":

Fewer Americans signed contracts to buy previously owned homes in September, indicating the credit crisis will inflict more damage on the housing market.

The index of signed purchase agreements, or pending home resales, fell 4.6 percent, more than forecast, to 89.2, the National Association of Realtors said today in Washington.

The housing slump may extend well into a fourth year as banks turn away borrowers, foreclosures worsen the glut of unsold homes and job losses climb. Lower property values will keep eroding home-equity, causing consumers to retrench further and reinforcing the risk of a deeper recession.

The numbers by region (as reported by the National Association of Realtors pending home sales index report):

The PHSI (Pending Home Sales Index) in the West rose 3.7 percent to 113.6 in September and remains 39.5 percent above a year ago. In the Midwest the index slipped 0.7 percent to 83.3 and is 3.1 percent below September 2007. The index in the South fell 7.9 percent to 89.0 in September and is 11.3 percent below a year ago. In the Northeast, the index dropped 16.8 percent to 66.4 and is 9.4 percent below September 2007.

Nationally, pending home sales compared to last year:

The Pending Home Sales Index, ... based on contracts signed in September, declined 4.6 percent to 89.2 from an upwardly revised reading of 93.5 in August, but is 1.6 percent higher than September 2007 when it stood at 87.8.

The national pending home sales numbers have trended ever so slightly in the right direction, up nearly 2% year over year. In the West, the pending home sales numbers, as reported, remain nearly 40% stronger. Perhaps some bottom feeding and increased investor interest?

These reports suggest, in lieu of the current credit environment / crisis, that the housing aches and pains are here to stay and may experience increased pains along the way.

The housing "doomers" and "gloomers" are in their, "I told you so" glory. Regardless of how they based their premise and achieved their conclusions, can anyone really argue their overall assessment to the contrary?

The writing's on the wall in bold "RED" letters and continues to look for more space in which to write it's housing stories of devastation as more space it will need as more devastation there will be.