Pending home sales rose for the fourth consecutive month and hit their highest level in nine years, the National Association of Realtors reported Thursday.
All four regions of the nation saw improvement, but the Northeast and Midwest led the pack, the group said.
The association’s Pending Home Sales Index rose by 3.4 percent in April and is 14 percent above April 2014 levels. The index is at its highest level since May 2006, the group said.
“Homeowners looking to sell this spring appear to be in the driver’s seat, as there are more buyers competing for a limited number of homes available for sale,” Lawrence Yun, the association’s chief economist, said in a statement accompanying the report. “As a result, home prices are up and accelerating in many markets.”
McClatchy reported earlier this month that some markets across the nation are beginning to see such steep price increases that they prompt concern about local housing bubbles.
Home prices have been rising, even as sales of existing homes have been flat.