US Pending Home Sales Plunged In March As Rates Rebounded

Weakness in existing home sales was swamped by surprising strength in new home sales (largely skewed by dramatic incentives from builders) and today Pending home sales breaks the tie (expected to show a small 0.8% MoM rise in sales). Instead, pending home sales tumbled 5.2% MoM, dragging the YoY sales down 23.26%…

Source: Bloomberg

The pending home sales report is often seen as a leading indicator of existing-home sales, given homes typically go under contract a month or two before they’re sold.

“The lack of housing inventory is a major constraint to rising sales,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.

There are pockets where demand remains strong. Yun said about a third of all listings are receiving multiple offers, and a similar share are selling above list price.

“Multiple offers are still occurring on about a third of all listings, and 28% of homes are selling above list price. Limited housing supply is simply not meeting demand nationally.”

None of this should come as a surprise since as we perfectly predicted the resurgence of mortgage rates led to a resumption of the slump in sales…

Source: Bloomberg

Which apparently is what Powell wants.