Some recent positive signs for homebuyers and sellers:
• The National Association of Realtors’ pending home sales index rose more than expected and climbed to the highest level in nine years in April.
• Sales of newly built homes rose nearly 7 percent in April, and were 26 percent higher than the number of sales reported in April 2014, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
• Construction started on new homes sprang up 20.2 percent in April, the biggest monthly percentage gain in more than 24 years and the highest level since November 2007, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.
• Seventy percent of millennials who do not yet own a home expect to become home owners by 2020, according to an Urban Land Institute survey.
