The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® released the latest Pending Home Sales report, which measures home transactions that are under contract but not have yet gone to the settlement table, and things are looking up, for the fourth month in a row. The nation’s real estate markets may just have a good summer season after all. In May, pending home sales rose point one percent, with the strongest gains in the Northeast and West. Considering economists had predicted that May would pass unchanged, this small jump is a positive sign. From May of last year to May of this year, the pending home sales were up nearly seven percent!

Despite the four-month consistent increase in pending home sales by May, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun advised investors to be “cautious of those results” as closing sales figures can reflect lower results.

In addition, the NAR reports that Housing Affordability remains at record highs. The NAR’s Housing Affordability Index measures the relationship between home prices, mortgage interest rates and family income. From April to May, the index slipped a bit, probably due to slightly higher interest rates. But overall, housing is more affordable this year than at any other time since the NAR started measuring affordability, thirty-nine years ago.

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