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Pending home sales rose for the second consecutive month in June, posting a modest 2.4 percent seasonally adjusted gain over May’s figures, the National Association of Realtors reported today.

On an annual basis, June’s figures represented an increase of nearly 20 percent from the June 2010 level, when signed contracts for home sales plummeted following the end of the homebuyer tax credit. The current Pending Home Sales Index is at 90.9, up from 75.9 one year ago on a scale where a reading of 100 equals the average sales activity in the year 2001.   Pending home sales, reflecting signed sales contracts, typically predict actual sales figures one to two months later, reflecting the time needed to close sales. However, that is not always the case – recently reported figures from the NAR showed that existing home sales fell unexpectedly in June, owing to an unusually large number of sales cancellations that occurred for reasons that are not clear.   Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said it may be that some sales cancellations in June were delayed sales rather than outright cancellations, in which case sales closings should increase over the next couple of months.   On a regional basis, pending home sales were up in the South and West for the month of June, while declining in the Midwest and Northeast.   The NAR is predicting that existing home sales will total 5.0 million for the year, a slight increase over 2010, with little overall change in home prices for the year as a whole.

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