Pending sales tick up

U.S. pending home sales rose in March, a sign that spring homebuying picked up even as mortgage rates moved higher. (nar.realtor) The National Association of Realtors said its Pending Home Sales Index increased 1.5% from February and fell 1.1% from March 2025. Pending sales track signed contracts on existing homes, usually one to two months before closings. (nar.realtor; nar.realtor) March gains were uneven across the country. Pending sales rose 4.4% in the Northeast and 3.9% in the South, but fell 1.3% in the Midwest and 2.6% in the West. (nar.realtor) National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said contract signings increased despite higher mortgage rates and pointed to “pent-up housing demand.” He said more inventory is needed to turn that demand into completed sales. (nar.realtor) The March reading matters because pending contracts are one of the earliest signals for the spring selling season. The National Association of Realtors says the index typically leads existing-home sales by a month or two. (nar.realtor) Other housing data showed more homes coming onto the market at the same time. Realtor.com said new listings jumped 21.2% from February to 439,000 in March, while pending listings rose 3.9% from a year earlier. (realtor.com) Prices also softened on some measures. Realtor.com said the national median list price fell 2.2% from a year earlier in March, the fifth straight annual decline. (realtor.com) Mortgage costs still limited the rebound. Realtor.com said rates climbed from about 6.11% in mid-March to 6.38% by month’s end, even though they remained roughly half a percentage point below the same period in 2025. (realtor.com) At the metro level, the strongest year-over-year pending-sales gains among the 50 largest markets were in Kansas City at 14.9%, Milwaukee at 13.5% and Austin at 12.8%. The next national update, for April 2026 pending sales, is scheduled for May 19, 2026. (nar.realtor; nar.realtor)