Having dropped 2.2 percent in December, the National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales Index, for which 100 denotes “an average level” of activity, ticked up 4.6 percent in January to 103.2 but remains 2.3 percent lower on a year-over-year basis and 8.1 percent below a cyclical high of 112.3 recorded in early 2017.
At the same time, the inventory of homes on the market across the country at the end of January (1.59 million) was 4.6 percent higher on a year-over-year basis (versus 30 percent higher in San Francisco).
And out West, while the regional Pending Home Sale Index inched up 0.3 percent in January to 87.3, it’s now running 10.1 percent lower on a year-over-year basis. And as we first reported earlier this year, pending home sales in San Francisco proper are down as well. Again, despite an increase in inventory levels.