Marking the first gain in nine months, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Pending Home Sales Index rose 3.4 percent in March to 97.4 from 94.2 in February, although it is 7.9 percent below March 2013. As worldpropertychannel.com reports, this year’s existing home sales began tepidly, and are not expected to reach the nearly 5.1 million figure of 2013. However, MHProNews.com has learned, the national median existing-home price is anticipated to gain six to seven percent this year because of inventory shortages. ##

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