NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index posted a reading of 102.9 for the month – a 5.3% increase from February’s reading of 97.7 and 21.1% above the index in March of 2009. The Pending Home Sales Index is a forwardlooking indicator based on pending sales of existing homes. A sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed but the transaction has not yet closed. Sales are usually finalized within one to two months of signing. The index is based on a large national sample, typically representing about 20 percent of transactions for existing home sales. In developing the model for the index, it was demonstrated that the level of monthly sales contract activity from 2001 through 2004 paralleled the level of closed existing-home sales in the following two months. Please note there is a closer relationship between annual index changes (from the same month a year earlier) and year-ago changes in sales performance than with month-to-month comparisons. An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, which was the first year to be examined, as well as the first of five consecutive record years for existinghome sales. The increase in pending sales portends a surge in home sales for the spring home-buying season. Favorable affordability conditions have been working in tandem with the tax credit to spur home buying. The tax credit expired on April 30, 2010. Later in the second half of the year, and into 2011, home sales will likely become self-sustaining if the economy can add jobs at a respectable pace, and from a return of buyer demand as home values stabilize.