The Pending Home Sales Index is slowing moving up. According to the National Association of Realtors, the index, taken monthly, went up 2.1%, going from 80.4 to 82.1. The best increase was seen in the Midwest, with pending home sales raising by 14.5%, followed by the West at 13.5%, Northeast at 10.6%, and the South at 4.4%.

This may be due to housing affordability having risen in February. The Affordability Index went up 0.9 percentage points, over 36.6 from the year before, hitting at 173.5. Affordability is calculated by the correlations between family income, home price, and mortgage interest rates. Based on this report, a family with a median income of $59,700 could afford a $285,600 home in February, as long as they did not have more then 25% of their income going to their mortgage principal. At that moment the median for existing single-family home prices was $164,600.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist for NAR, said that "Pending home sales have a way to go for there to be a meaningful increase, but recent increases in shopping activity are hopeful indicators that we'll see additional sales gains,". While he does expect that inventories may bulk up a bit in the spring, he did remark that "with the positive housing stimulus incentives now in place, we expect home sales to gain momentum in the second half of the year with first-time buyers absorbing a lot of the excess inventory,". If all this occurs, the NAR is optimistic that a more level housing market will be seen by the end of the year.