Pending home sales rise 1.4% in April, NAR says

Pending home sales were up again in April, rising 1.4% from a month prior according to data released Tuesday by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

In April, the Pending Home Sales Index came in at a reading of 74.8. This represented a 3.2% annual increase.

An index reading of 100 is equal to the level of contract activity in 2001.

“Buyers are coming out with cautious optimism despite increasing economic uncertainty and a slight rise in mortgage rates,” Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said in a statement. “Demand will easily be even higher once mortgage rates retreat to the levels they were at earlier this year.”

Regionally, pending home sales rose month-over-month in the Northeast (+6.6%), Midwest (+3.0%) and West (+0.4%), but fell 0.7% in the South. On a yearly basis, pending home sales fell 0.6% in the Northeast to an index reading of 62.7, but rose in the Midwest (+2.7%), South (+4.7%) and West (+3.8%) to index readings of 76.1, 91.2 and 57.1, respectively.

At the metro level, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, posted the largest annual increase in pending home sales at 10.3%, followed by Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL (+9.4%), Oklahoma City, OK (+8.6%), Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI (+7.4%) and Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC (+7.2%).

“Regionally, three of the four major regions posted monthly gains in April, led by a 6.6% increase in the Northeast, while the South declined modestly,” Sam Williamson, First American’s senior economist, said in a statement. “The stronger rebound in the Northeast is consistent with some delayed activity from weather-related disruptions earlier in the year showing up in spring contract signings. The Midwest also posted a solid gain, while the West was essentially flat, reinforcing that affordability and local market conditions continue to shape buyer activity across regions.”

HousingWire Data shows that there were 430,175 pending single family home sales as of May 15, 2026, up 4.9% compared to a year ago. For the week ending on May 15, there were 78,006 new pending single family home sales, up 6.1% annually.

At the metro level, Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI had an additional 962 single family home sales pending compared to a year ago, as of May 15, followed by Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL (+560 homes), Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ (+523 homes) and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX (+518 homes).

Looking ahead, CENTURY 21 Real Estate president Mike Miedler is optimistic about the summer housing market.

“Today’s 1.4% increase in NAR pending home sales for April is one data point, but what’s catching my attention is the bigger behavioral shift happening underneath it. Even as the 30-year fixed climbed back toward 6.5% on inflation concerns and Middle East uncertainty, purchase applications rose 4% last week and are running 7% ahead of this time last year – this signals to me that buyers aren’t waiting for perfect conditions anymore. They’re adapting,” Miedler said in a statement. “The conversations happening at kitchen tables right now aren’t about waiting for rates to drop. They’re about how to move forward. Sellers who are pricing realistically are finding those buyers. And as we head into summer, I think the second half of 2026 is going to surprise a lot of people.”

Williamson agrees, noting that underlying buyer conditions remain better than a year ago.

“Inventory has improved, home-price growth has cooled, and rising incomes have helped put buyers in a somewhat stronger purchasing position relative to last year,” he said. “Those conditions could support firmer sales activity in the second half of 2026 if mortgage rates stabilize and broader economic uncertainty eases.”