pending home sales

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 for homes rose 2.1 percent last month to a reading of 90.8. Sales...

This week we turn the calendar page, and that change brings with it a raft of economic data. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will deliver his semiannual monetary policy testimony before Congress, while Wall Street waits on more earnings reports.

The number of people who signed contracts to buy homes rose in December, marking the fifth increase in the past six months. The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that its index of sales agreements for previously occupied homes rose 2 percent last month. The index had posted a 3.1...

With corporate earnings season in full swing -- watch for McDonalds, along with Catepillar, Amazon and other -- and with the Fed meeting on interest rates, the GDP estimate and housing numbers coming out -- the week ahead is expected to be quite busy.

Doomsayers insist the recent rapid rise in yields means the nation's creditors are finally getting fed up with financing U.S. deficits. But a stronger argument says the cause is better-than-expected economic reports that have been piling up recently.

Who holds the crystal ball on the real estate market? Well, the National Association of Realtors® thinks it does. And it's not off-base; NAR's monthly pending home sales report, which the trade group calls a "forward looking indicator" does provide a pretty good read on what's coming down the...

Aided by an improving job market and comparatively low mortgage rates, U.S. pending home sales surged a record 10.4% in October. Still, the latest new- and existing-home sales reports suggest a sluggish housing recovery at least into early 2011.

Pending home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly fell 1.8% in September, the National Association of Realtors reported Friday. It was the statistic's first decline in three months, and one that suggests that the housing sector's recovery is likely to remain uneven through at least early 2011.

U.S. pending home sales rose a better-than-expected 4.3% in August. The second straight monthly rise in pending sales may be another sign of housing sector stabilization, or it may merely reflect an elongated impact of the home buyer tax credit.

U.S. pending home sales unexpectedly rose 5.2% in July -- a rise that may be a sign of housing sector stabilization, or it may merely reflect an elongated impact of the home buyer tax credit, due to an extended closing deadline.