The pending sales index, based on signed contracts to buy a home rather than the final sales that are accounted for in existing home sales, improved by 2.5% from November to December, according to data released Friday from the National Association of Realtors. However, that’s down by 33.8% from the frenzied market of a year ago. “This recent low point in home sales activity is likely over,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist.
From a financial perspective, the decision to buy a home comes down to a payment-to-paycheck calculation, and lower rates may help to reduce the mortgage payment while higher incomes can increase one’s monthly paycheck.” But affordability will remain a challenge for many, since housing demand remains frozen by high prices and mortgage rates, said Hannah Jones, economic data analyst at Realtor.com. “Though mortgage rates fell as low as 6.27% in December, down 0.