Housing data in January gave mixed signals on the direction for the year. Closing activity for existing home sales shot up to a decade-high of 5.69 million units at an annualized pace, but pending contracts fell to their lowest level in 12 months. For the whole of 2017, I expect existing home sales to reach 5.6 million, which would be a gain of 2.2% from the prior year, but below the annualized pace set in January. In short, expect sideway movements for the rest of the year.

 

View, NAR Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun's full Forbes article here.

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