Contracts
to purchase previously owned homes in the U.S. plunged in December by
the most since May 2010 as higher borrowing costs and bad weather held
back sales.A
gauge of pending home sales slumped 8.7 percent after a revised 0.3
percent drop in November that was initially reported as a gain, the
National Association of Realtors said today in Washington. The median
projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for the index to
drop 0.3 percent.Tight
inventory and unusually cold weather discouraged prospective buyers,
according to the group. Further gains in hiring, household wealth and
consumer confidence would help boost the housing recovery and the
economy.Estimates
in the Bloomberg survey of 38 economists ranged from a decline of 5.3
percent to an advance of 3.5 percent. The December decrease was the
biggest since the month following the expiration of a government tax
credit in April 2010.Stocks
held gains after the figures, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index
rising 0.7 percent to 1,786.42 at 10:24 a.m. in New York.Contract
signings dropped 6.1 percent from the year prior on an unadjusted basis
after a 4.4 percent decrease in the 12 months that ended in November,
the Realtors group reported.
