April pending home sales rise for the third month in a row, jumping 6.7%, which marks the biggest monthly jump in eight years, according to NAR.
But more importantly, the index was up 3.2% year-over-year, which certainly marks a step in the right direction for the housing market, FusionIQ CEO Barry Ritholtz writes on his blog.
“Take the [data] up three months in a row, and the positive annual change as a positive incremental improvement,” he says. “Not the beginning of a new bull market for houses, but a potential sign things are stabilizing.”
Home builders started trading higher after the data was released. Before the report, the Dow Jones US home construction index was down slightly, but was recently up 3.3% in midday trading.
Shares of DR Horton (DHI) gained 4.7%, Beazer (BZH) shares were up 4.2% and Hovnanian (HOV) rose 6.8%.
The Dow was recently up 26 at 8747.
