Pending home sales for single-family homes surged in the Bay State last month, with the Massachusetts Association of Realtors’ (MAR) pending home sales indicator showing the biggest increase in May since MAR began tracking pending home sales in January 2004. Condominiums also went up again in May compared with the same month in 2013. However, Realtors’ confidence in the market suffered a dip.
Single-family pending sales were up 7.2 percent to 6,372, from 5,944 at this time last year, a jump of 7.2 percent and the 15th straight month of year-over-year increases. That was the highest number of homes put under agreement in May since MAR began tracking this data ten years ago.
Pending condominium sales also increased in May, rising to 2,440 compared with 2,353 at this time last year, a bump of 3.7 percent. This is the highest number of pending condominium sales for the month since May 2005, when 2,791 units were put under agreement.
"With interest rates at their lowest point all year in May, buyer demand once again pushed pending home sales up in May," 2014 MAR President Peter Ruffini, regional vice president at Jack Conway & Co., said in a statement."Hopefully the increase in home prices will help convince hesitant sellers to finally enter the market."
Despite the increase in pending sales, however, agent’s confidence in the market dipped, with the MAR’s Realtor Confidence Index falling to 67.73 in May 2014 compared with 83.08 in May 2013, a decrease of 19 percent. This is the seventh straight month that the confidence index has declined.
Realtors’ expectations for further price increases also shrunk, with the Realtor Price Index dipping to 76.68 in May compared with 81.95 at this time last year, a decrease of 7 percent.
"As more inventory starts to make its way to the market, Realtor-member confidence that prices will continue to go up isn’t as strong as it has been," said Ruffini. "However, buyer demand is strong based on pending sales and hopefully that should start to push the Realtor Market Confidence Index up in the coming months."
Low inventory continues to plague the market. In response to an MAR survey, 55 percent of Realtors reported that continued low inventory had increased buyer attendance at open houses.
