The National Association of Realtors reported this week that there have been pending home sale gains in the South and Midwest. The other regions saw slight declines.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, sees this figure as a modest reboud. "The monthly gain in pending home sales, spurred by buyers responding to lower home prices and mortgage interest rates, more than offset an index decline in the previous month," he said. "The biggest gains were in areas with the biggest improvements in affordability."

He did comment, however, that housing and the economy continue to see troubled waters ahead. He said, "Although Congress and the Obama administration are taking steps to help the economy, the stimulus package must deal with the root cause of the economic downturn, and apply the right fix to turn it around. If housing is ignored, a significant downward overshooting of home prices would continue to drag the economy down independent of the scale of the stimulus."

Published: February 4, 2009

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