Pending home sales rose for the third consecutive month in April, this time hitting the highest level since Feb. 2006, as 12newsnow reports to MHProNews. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said its seasonally adjusted pending home sales index billowed 5.1 percent in April to 116.3, just shy of the 117.4 level ten years ago.

In the latest of good news for the improving housing market, pending home sales are up 4.6 percent over April 2015. In another good stroke, the Commerce Department reported new home sales spiked 16.6 percent last month to a seasonally annual average rate (SAAR) of 619,000, the most since Jan. 2008.

Comprising 90 percent of the market, existing homes sales rose last month to an annual rate of 5.45 million.

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun attributed the increases to mortgage rates that continue to hover below four percent, and job growth that proffers the confidence and money to buy homes. ##

(Image credit: globest–housing market recovery)

Article submitted by Matthew J Silver to Daily Business News-MHProNews.