Pending home sale index down in February

Washington -- The National Association of Realtors said the pending home sales index dropped in February and remains substantially lower than a year ago.

The index dropped 1.9 percent on the month to 84.6, a 21.4 percent decline from a year ago, NAR reported.

"The slip in pending home sales implies we're not out of the woods yet," NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement.

The index rose 3.2 percent in the Northeast in February to 71.8, a decline of 25.4 percent from a year ago.

In the Midwest, the index dropped 3.7 percent to 82.7, off 17.4 percent from a year ago.

In the South, the decline was 5.5 percent to 85, off 30.3 percent from 2007.

In the West, the index fell 9.8 percent to 84.6, off 17.1 percent from a year ago.

"Exceptionally weak home sales related to jumbo loans problems will depress home prices in the first half of the year," Yun said. But "liquidity improvements ... in jumbo-loan markets will help prices recover in the second half of the year," he said.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.