WASHINGTON — More Americans signed contracts to buy homes in February, but sales were uneven across the country and not enough to signal a rebound in the housing market.
The National Association of Realtors says its index of sales agreements rose 2.1% last month to a reading of 90.8. Sales rose in every region but the Northeast.
Signings were 19.6% above June’s reading, low point since the housing bust. Still, the index is below 100, which is considered a healthy level. The last time it reached that point was April, the final month people could qualify for a federal home-buying tax credit.
Contract signings are usually a good indicator of where the housing market is heading. That’s because there’s usually a one- to two-month lag between a sales contract being signed and a completed deal.
The pace of sales varied from region to region. Signings fell 10.9% in the Northeast. They rose 2.7% in the South, 4% in Midwest and 7% in the West.
High unemployment, strict lending standards, and a record number of foreclosures are deterring would-be buyers, who fear home prices haven’t hit bottom.
Sales of previously owned homes fell last year to the lowest level in 13 years, and economists say it will be years more before the housing market fully recovers. The rise in foreclosures has pushed the median price of previously occupied homes to its lowest point in nearly 9 years.
New-home sales have fared even worse. Americans are on track to buy fewer new homes than in any year since the government began keeping data almost a half-century ago. Sales are now just half the pace of 1963 — even though there are 120 million more people in the United States now.
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