Washington, DC, April 3, 2006--Pending home sales fell in the latest month, and were lower than a year ago, indicating the housing market is stabilizing, a real estate group said Monday.
The pending-home-sales index fell 0.8% in February, to 117.7, according to the National Association of Realtors. Year over year, pending home sales are down 5.2%, the group said.
The NAR's chief economist said most of the housing market's cooling has already happened and the market will be "historically strong" going forward.
January's data was revised up to 118.6 from 116.3.
Pending home sales in the Northeast rose 6.8% in February, to 107.9, the Realtors' survey showed. That was 1.2% lower than a year ago, the group said.
Sales in the Midwest stayed at 114.3, or 6% below February 2005. In the South, the index fell 0.1%, while in the West it fell 7.6%, or almost 15% below February 2005.
