The latest report from the National Association of Realtorsshows that the number of contracts signed on homes in April rose 6.7 percentfrom the previous month.
That’s what they call a “pending home sale.”
Of course that buyer still needs to do the home inspection and, most important, get the financing before closing.
(Video: CNBC's Diana Olick discusses the April pending home sales jump.)
Once the contract is “closed” that statistic goes into the “existing home sales” bin.
Historically, the pending home sales index has tracked along pretty closely with the existing home sales number, and so has been a pretty reliable leading indicators. Lately that’s become less and less true.
Take a look at this chart from the Field Check Group and PaperEconomy.com: