U.S. pending home sales rise above expectations in January

U.S. pending home sales came in better than expectations in January. On a sequential basis, pending home sales rose 4.6 percent, as compared with consensus expectations of a rise of 0.4 percent. This is the largest sequential change since 2010, when pent-up demand in the early stages of the growth led to some solid results.

The level of the pending index was still not impressive, as the rise came after six straight months of declines. The trend is still best described as downward, noted Daiwa Capital Market Research in a report.

“Nevertheless, the latest increase was encouraging as it suggests that the drop of approximately 50 basis points in mortgage rates since November was stirring some interest in home purchases”, added Daiwa Capital Market Research.

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