Looking forward: Numbers to be released this week might bring clarity

Home sales will likely hit a bottom first — and may have already done so. Data on existing home sales in March is scheduled to come out Thursday and new home sales on Friday. Both measures of housing activity picked up in February, a sign that between cheap foreclosed-on houses and low mortgage rates, the volume of sales may finally have stopped falling. This week’s data will be a test of that thesis. Analysts are expecting a mixed bag, with new-home sales rising modestly but existing home sales falling a bit.

Whatever the March numbers say, there are good reasons to think that home sales will improve as the spring selling season gets underway. Anecdotal reports suggest that low mortgage rates and an $8,000 first-time home-buyer tax credit are coaxing buyers back into the market. And while foreclosures are set to rise as banks begin to move on delinquent homeowners, that actually could boost home sales as banks auction homes for whatever the market will bear.

Source: Washington Post