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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2018315621_apuspendinghomesales.html

A gauge of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes fell in April from nearly a two-year high in the previous month.

The decline was the biggest in a year. Still, sales are well ahead of last year’s level for the same month, suggesting the housing market is improving slowly.

The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that its index of sales agreements dropped to 95.5, down from March’s reading of 101.1.

The decline could be a sign that a milder winter accelerated some home sales that normally take place in the spring.

Home prices rose in March from February in most major U.S. cities for the first time in seven months, according to the Standard and Poor’s/Case-Shiller index.

Builders are breaking ground on more homes and requesting more permits to build single-family homes later this year.

Still, the pace of home sales remains well below healthy levels. Economists say it could be years before the market is fully healed.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-05-22/existing-home-sales-rise-affordability-helps

The National Association of Realtors said today that sales of existing homes rose 3.4 percent in April, from March (seasonally adjusted).

No doubt a big reason was the improvement in affordability. The interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has continued falling since the period covered by the NAR report, portending better times ahead. Freddie Mac (FMCC), the mortgage-buying giant, says the rate was 3.79 percent in the week ended May 17, the lowest since it began keeping records in 1971.

The median sales price rose 10.1 percent from a year earlier. That hurts affordability, but it could lure buyers who decide they can’t wait for even cheaper prices. “Today’s data provide further evidence that the housing sector is turning the corner,” wrote economist Joseph Lavorgna of Deutsche Bank Securities.

The numbers could well improve in the months to come. Action Economics Chief Economist Michael Englund wrote: “The existing home sales data generally continue to underperform the recovery in the new home market and other indicators of real estate market activity.” But, he added, “the trend is upward.”