Regional Spotlight: May Pending Home Sales Index Reports Positive Changes

RISMEDIA, July 12, 2007—The Prudential Fox & Roach, Realtors® HomExpert May Pending Home Sales Index© showed real estate activity throughout the region has stabilized. The combined 10-county Southeastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey* index remained at a steady 102, down only slightly from 102.3 in April.

The 10-county Pennsylvania and New Jersey region included in the HomExpert Index showed positive trends for the spring, with the Southern New Jersey area up 6.3% for May. The increases in New Jersey are a positive sign for the summer months, as the area is seeing its first signs of growth for the year. In the Southeastern Pennsylvania market, activity has leveled at 101, down slightly from April’s revised index of 101.8, according to the HomExpert Pending Home Sales Index.

The activity tracked by the HomExpert Index is in line with the regional and national findings reported by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) May Pending Home Sales Index. The NAR index reported a 3.8% increase in pending sales in the Northeast United States from April but a 3.5% drop nationally.

Center City continues to see drops in activity, falling 11.7% from April. In the March/April index, Center City decreased 20% which followed a 22.5% drop in February/March. Philadelphia County as a whole had much better results, decreasing only 2.8% from 124.1 in April to 120.6 in May. Camden County, Montgomery County and Gloucester County saw the most favorable trends in the region with increases of 17.3, 9.5 and 8.1% respectively. Main Line homes are seeing positive trends as they have stayed even with last month to an index of 132.9.

The index monitors real estate market activity by tracking pending sales of homes reported to the TREND® Multiple Listing Service, the region’s primary real estate reporting tool for 32,000 real estate professionals. A sale is listed as ‘pending’ when a contract has been signed but the transaction has not closed. Sales are typically finalized within one or two months of signing. An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2002. The HomExpert Pending Home Sales Index is modeled after a national index created by the National Association of Realtors® and is available at www.Realtor.org.

“The housing market is beginning to show signs of recovery from the first quarter,” said Steve Storti, senior vice president of marketing for Prudential Fox & Roach. “The increases in Camden, Gloucester and Montgomery counties are indicators of the return to the activity in the suburban market.”

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